


Brown-Eyed Girl

by hokay



Series: Russian Country Love Song [1]
Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: F/M, Puppy Love, brief mention of child abuse, fatherly protection, healthy doses of sarcasm, teenage love
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-06-16
Updated: 2013-06-16
Packaged: 2017-12-15 04:51:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 8
Words: 26,222
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/845529
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hokay/pseuds/hokay
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>These are the times of Joanna McCoy aboard the starship Enterprise. Her mission: to reconnect with her father, to seek out timid Russian navigators; to boldly go where no daughter has gone before.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I started this story right after the first Star Trek reboot came out and now I think it's about time I do it some justice and finish it up. I posted it first over on FF.net, and now I'm transferring it over here.

_December 29, 2266 – Macon, GA_

 

Jocelyn Moore woke up uncharacteristically early one morning in late December, not quite sure why she was awake. The world outside was still dark and cold and she briefly contemplated rolling over and going back to sleep. Something was poking incessantly at the back of her mind, however, and she rolled out of bed, trying not to jostle the mattress enough to wake Daniel. He had been so kind these past few months, really supportive as Jocelyn came to grips with the fact that her baby girl was _graduating_. She had always known that Joanna was smart; the child had gone straight to the first grade when she was _five_ , for Christ’s sake. Proudest moment of Leonard McCoy’s life if anyone asked, not that anyone really did anymore. It wasn’t as if he was around to ask, what with being in Starfleet. Still, he never missed a child support payment, which was damn decent of him.

It had killed Jocelyn, the way that Joanna had frowned when she realized that her father wasn’t going to make it to her graduation. He and his precious Captain Kirk were off in some odd star system, and they were coming into port a week too late. He’d be back in time for Christmas, though – “He promised,” Joanna had said in that simple way that implied that she just _knew—_ and he had made good on his word. Christmas morning, Len had been at the door, arms spread wide, face split in a rare grin, as a laughing Joanna had bounced into his embrace.

Jocelyn had allowed herself one moment of jealousy. After all, Jo was her Daddy’s little girl. She had every right be ecstatic to see him, but she never hugged Daniel like that, or smiled that big when he walked in the room. Joanna saved her best and biggest smile for one person only, and most of the time, he saw it over a vid screen.

Putting her fist over her mouth to stifle a yawn, Jocelyn pulled her robe over her nightgown and shuffled down the hall to her daughter’s room, a feeling deep in her gut telling her to go check on her baby. It had been a while since she had felt this way, but maybe Joanna’s graduation was setting off some weird mothering instincts. With Joanna’s transition to adulthood, maybe Jocelyn’s protective urges were taking over?

The fake diploma that the dean had handed Jo at the ceremony was still tacked on her door. Turning the doorknob softly, Jocelyn opened the door a crack. She made every effort to be as silent as possible; Jo was just as much of a light sleeper as her daddy had been. Poking her head in, Jocelyn surveyed her daughter’s room. Various posters of bands, old twentieth and twenty-first century movies, and classical paintings were scattered across the green walls. Painted on the ceiling, glowing, were the words “I wish I was a glow-worm, a glow-worm’s never glum. ‘Cos how can you be grumpy when the sun shines out your bum!”

Jo called it her motto; Jocelyn called it tacky.

There were no clothes on the floor, or on the desk. Jo had finally cleaned up a little bit after a good and proper fight the weekend before graduation. Jocelyn refused to have guests in the house with her daughter’s room looking like a pigsty. Jo had retorted with a well-placed, “It’s not like they’re expecting incredible neatness from the seventeen-year-old!” Jocelyn had to smile, albeit sadly, at her daughter’s sheer cheek. It was the sort of response she had expected from her ex-husband; it seemed, as Jo grew up, that she became less like her mother every day. Even being light years away from each other, Jo and Len were twin souls. Jocelyn had never felt so left out as when the two were together.  It had always been that way, since day one. The minute the nurse had put Jo in her father’s arms, Jocelyn knew that she had been replaced. She had been an only child, unaccustomed to sharing the spotlight with anyone, and now she was being upstaged by her own daughter. Hell, the two of them could finish each other’s sentences. She had never felt that close to Len. Maybe that’s why she had cheated on him; he had Jo, while Jocelyn watched from the sidelines, unsure of how to join in their fun.  

It wasn’t just personalities, either. At least when she was younger, Joanna had had blonde-ish hair, but it had darkened over the years, and now all Jocelyn saw was a miniature Len. Dark hair, brown eyes, and a crooked smile.

Still smiling wistfully, Jocelyn glanced at the bed and saw the form of her sleeping daughter. Waking up had been in vain; nothing was wrong. Her mothering instincts must not have been as active as she thought. That was a bit disappointing, but it was too late to start mothering the girl now – Jo was independent to the point of anti-social sometimes. She never needed to be told what to do, except when it came to Daniel. For some reason, she was still hostile to the poor man.

Jocelyn’s thoughts wandered back to Daniel, and the warm bed that she had left, and she made to shut Jo’s door. However, that niggling feeling in the back of her brain was still there, and she decided to go in and kiss Jo, like she had done after the divorce and Jo had sobbed herself to sleep, crying for her daddy.

 _Not such a baby anymore,_ Jocelyn thought as she tiptoed across the room. _Hell, she’s taller than me._

Reaching for the covers, Jocelyn pulled them back slowly, looking for that familiar, sleep-messy mop of hair. All she saw were pillows. Surely Joanna hadn’t snuggled down to the bottom of the bed? She was slightly claustrophobic – any long length of time spent in a stifling space brought on hyperventilation. Jocelyn pulled the covers back a little farther, still looking for hair, a hand, a foot, _anything._

Pillows. Just…pillows.

She ripped the blanket off the bed. No Jo. No sign that there had ever been a Jo in this bed. Heart racing while trying to remain calm, Jocelyn left the room and went to the stairs, listening. No music, no television – nothing. No sign of Jo.

She didn’t notice when she began gulping for air, but she did notice when she started screaming Daniel’s name.

Joanna was gone.

 

 

“Where the hell would she go?” Daniel propped himself on the kitchen counter, rubbing his eyes blearily. Waking up at six in the morning by his screaming wife was not how he liked to start the day. He gravitated towards the replicator, desperately wanting coffee, but too fascinated with Jocelyn’s ceaseless pacing.

“I don’t know!” ‘Lyn cried, tears streaking down her cheeks. “She’s seventeen, Daniel, she could be _anywhere!_ ” Her hand still clenched the note they had found on the kitchen table.

_Left town. Not coming back. See you in Palo Alto in August. -J._

It was damned stupid of the girl, Daniel thought, just leaving in the middle of the night like this. She hadn’t left a number, or anything like that. Her mobile had been sitting on top of the note. Personally, Daniel blamed her father. From what he had heard throughout town, Leonard McCoy had also up and left his wife and young daughter not too long after the divorce. Just disappeared, boom. Joined up with Starfleet, never came back to Georgia, except when he came to claim Jo for a weekend.

Daniel sighed and went to the replicator, ordering up some coffee. “Does she have a friend or kin that she would go to?” he asked. Four years he had been married to Jocelyn, and he had no idea if Joanna had that close or friends or not. Daniel wondered if his lack of knowledge was his fault.

“No! I don’t…” Jocelyn froze, staring at the note like it had sprouted legs and started singing dirty songs. “Oh, my God.”

Daniel put down his steaming cup of caffeinated goodness, staring at his wife. “What?”

“She’d go to her daddy, first thing, always has.” Jocelyn’s voice was faint. She sank to the kitchen table, staring blankly at a spot behind Daniel’s head. Her blue eyes were wet, and Daniel realized that she was on the verge of tears. Approaching slowly, he slid into an adjacent chair, taking Jocelyn’s hand in his two.

“Jocelyn, baby, I’m confused. You’re not bein’ clear.” She frowned at that, shaking her head violently. She snatched her hand out of his grip, standing, eyes suddenly furious.

“My ex-husband!” she shrieked, throwing up her hands and resuming her frantic pacing. “She’s gone to California!”

Daniel gaped. “Calif—how did she get there?”

“Like I know…The two of them are just alike, stubborn and determined to have their way. She’s probably been plannin’ this for a while.” Jocelyn ran her fingers through her graying blonde hair, posture crumpling as it finally hit her – her only child had run away from home. She could go get Jo, bring her back home and ground her ass until forever, but the child was eighteen in March; she’d just leave again. There was no way that Jocelyn could bring Joanna back without a fight.

Then Daniel, good, sweet, simple Daniel, made everything so much easier. “So call your ex and tell him to send her back.”

Jocelyn looked at her husband like the idea had never occurred to her, which, in reality, it hadn’t. She never talked to her ex-husband if she could help it; there was too much bad blood. However, the disappearance of a child trumped any other emergency in Jocelyn’s book, and she went to the communicator immediately, punching in Leonard’s code from memory. She didn’t even wait for him to greet her as his tired face came up on the vid screen, three hours behind Jocelyn’s six a.m.

“Leonard, we have a problem.”

 

 

_Stardate 2266.365_

_New Year’s Eve_

Jim Kirk clapped his hands together briskly, entirely too chipper for the situation. He turned to face his command crew, all standing on the steps of Starfleet Academy, wondering why they weren’t out celebrating, or, in the case of Spock, why they were being ordered to stand and look for a human being in the already roiling masses of cadets. “All right, now, everyone be on the lookout – we’re looking for a seventeen-year-old female replica of Bones, identical right down to the scowl. If you need a reference, Bones is happily obliging as we speak.” He grinned at his CMO, whose frown deepend, dark eyes scanning the crowd in an obsessive frenzy. It had been two days since the frantic call from McCoy’s ex-wife, saying that Jo had disappeared from her home in Macon, Georgia, and that Jocelyn figured Jo was headed for San Francisco, and when Len found her, he’d best send their daughter’s sorry ass back home.

“Ye only have the one daughter, right, Doctor?” Montgomery Scott drawled, holding a flask of something extremely alcoholic in one gloved hand. “There aren’t more of your offspring roamin’ about that we should be on the lookout for?” McCoy’s glare turned on the engineer and the Scot wilted, shifting just slightly to hide behind Nyota Uhura. “Apologies. Jus’ askin’.”

HIkaru Sulu and Pavel Chekov quickly exchanged amused grins. Scotty was well on his way to bringing in the New Year good and drunk, and they all knew that McCoy would have joined him, were it not for this last minute crisis.  

McCoy drifted closer to the laughing crowds of cadets, eyes never stopping as he searched every face. “I’m gonna kill her,” he muttered darkly.

Jim snorted and flung an arm around his best friend’s shoulders. “Yeah, that’ll be great. She’s run away from home, clearly wanting to find you so that you can make it better, and you’re going to commit first degree murder. Brilliant, Bones.” He decided not be offended when McCoy shoved the arm off, stepping away from the captain; after all, panicking over one’s child was a rather disturbing experience. Under his devil-may-care exterior, Jim was freaking out a little bit, too. Jo was an absolute sweetheart, from what Jim remembered from the many times he had seen her over the vid screen. She had an absolutely _devilish_ sense of humor, and he loved seeing her and Bones get into playful arguments. Jo had a weird effect on Bones. Jim imagined that whenever he saw the two of them interact, he was seeing a pre-divorce Bones, someone that no one saw very much of anymore.

“I mean it, Jim,” McCoy growled. “I’m gonna kill her. I’m going to package her up into a little tiny box and ship her ass back to her mother. I’m too old for this shit!”

“Relax, Bones, you’re not even forty. Jesus.”

“Might I suggest, Doctor,” Spock said calmly, “that you employ alternate means of greeting? I deduct that threatening to take her life would only have detrimental results to your daughter’s mental health, not to mention straining the bond that you two share.”

“No shit, you hobgoblin,” McCoy spat. At Nyota’s protest, Scotty, Sulu, and Chekov’s giggles, and Jim’s low, “Hey, now,” he spun around to face them all, eyes wild. “Would everyone kindly _shut up_? My only child is wandering around San Francisco and _I have no idea where the fuck she is._ ” He glared as Sulu raised one hand. _“What?”_

“If you don’t know where she is, sir, then why are we here, instead of looking for her in the city?” Sulu asked, genuinely curious. He had been wondering this for about an hour now, but watching the doctor mutter absolutely filthy oaths under his breath while the captain tried not to laugh was too damn entertaining.

“Because, _Lieutenant_ , the last thing she said to me before I left Macon was that she’d like to watch the New Year’s Eve fireworks from the steps of the Academy,” McCoy said, his voice growing softer with every word. “She’d remember that, and she’d come here. I know she would.” His voice held an air of certainty that not even Jim dared to question.

“That’s very sweet, Doctor,” Uhura said gently, her arm looped with one of Spock’s. “I’m sure she’ll remem–”

“Is that her?” Chekov’s voice rang out, interrupting Nyota, and McCoy spun, eyes landing on the dark figure that had begun to ascend the Academy steps, a bag slung over one shoulder. It was difficult to see properly in the dark, but something twisted inside of McCoy, and he _knew_. He took one uncertain breath and pushed past Scotty to get a closer look. A flash of light from someone’s camera higher up the steps illuminated a face that he knew almost as well as his own, and for a moment, Leonard McCoy felt like crying.

“Joanna McCoy!”

Jim Kirk would never, for the rest of his life, forget the look of absolute relief and adoration that crossed Joanna’s face when she saw her father. It was almost corny, the way that she dropped her bag and flung herself into her father’s arms, clutching tight to the collar of Bones’ coat. Her face pressed into his neck, and Bones slowly turned, moving with the momentum of his daughter’s embrace. Jim could barely see his CMO’s lips moving, murmuring words of comfort into his beloved daughter’s ear, anger temporarily forgotten as paternal instinct took over. The captain turned back to his crew, who were all watching the scene with levels of interest, from mildly curious (Spock), to innocently fascinated (Chekov), to teary and smiling (Uhura).

“All right, you’re all free to go,” Jim said gently, making a slight shooing motion with his hands. “Crisis averted, time to go enjoy yourselves.” He smiled at his loyal crew as they departed, wishing him a Happy New Year. This was the first New Year’s in a long while they had spent on Earth, and he fully expected each and every one of them to make the most of it. Still smiling, he turned and slowly made his way over to the McCoy pair, keeping a keen ear open for any conversation that he wouldn’t want to walk into.

“Joanna Leigh, don’t you ever scare me like that again,” Bones was saying as he brushed a piece of hair out of his daughter’s face, reaching down to clutch her chin, bringing her eyes to meet his. “You hear me? Never again.”

“Wow, no death threats?” Jim heard the trembling in Jo’s voice, not quite hidden by the sarcasm.   
“I suspect you’re doin’ much better than Momma.”

“Your mother is sick with worry, young lady. What the hell were you thinkin’?”

Joanna shrugged. “I dunno, Daddy. I just couldn’t be in that house anymore.”

Leonard studied his daughter with suspicious eyes. “That means what, exactly?”

Opening her mouth, Joanna quickly shut it again, unsure how to put her thoughts into words. She didn’t want to start something – most of her life was spent _avoiding_ the arguments that were so frequent between her parents. What she wanted to tell her father would no doubt spark the mother of all fights, and she didn’t have the strength to deal with that at the moment. She quickly averted her gaze from her father’s watchful eye, catching sight of the _Enterprise_ captain, standing nearby with his hands in his pockets and a curious expression.

“Jim!” she crowed happily, slipping past Leonard to tackle Jim firmly around the neck. Jim laughed and caught her, spinning around to keep from falling over.

“Have a good trip, you rebel, you?” Jim joked, setting Jo down on the steps.

“Don’t encourage her, Captain.” Leonard’s voice was steely. “She’s in enough trouble as it is without someone praising her irresponsibility.”

Jo kicked at the worn marble step with a sneakered toe. “I’m sorry, Daddy,” she said softly, and Jim shot Leonard a look that clearly said, _Have a heart, man._

 _Shut up, Jim_ , Leonard’s look said right back. _You’re not in charge of me at the moment_. His pocket chirped, and he reached in, sighing when he saw Jocelyn’s number on the screen of his mobile. “It’s your mother,” he growled, and Jo winced.

“Don’t make me talk to her, Dad, please?”

“You’re goin’ to have to, eventually.” With one last stern glare, Leonard flipped open the phone. “Jocelyn, she’s here. I’ve got her.”

Jo could hear her mother’s sigh of relief crackle through the speakers. She could hear her telling Daniel that Len had Jo, that it was all okay, and Jo’s stomach clenched. Suddenly, she was furious, and she couldn’t properly pinpoint why. An arm around her shoulders made her look up, and her vision was filled with a bright smile and blue, blue eyes.

“So, running away from home? That’s pretty intense, young lady,” Jim said softly. “What brought this around?”

Jo shrugged again. “I don’t really want to talk about it.”

Jim was silent for a moment, studying her. The smile faded from his face, and for a moment, Jo was afraid. It was like those eyes were peering into her soul, and she was terrified at what Jim Kirk might see. If Jo McCoy was going to tell anyone her reasons for leaving home, it was going to be her father, and she didn’t even really want to tell him right now. God forbid Jim figure something out and tell Leonard before Jo was good and ready.

But Jim just grinned again, a little more subdued, and squeezed her shoulders. “Hey, I gotcha. You are talking to the number one most mobile kid that Iowa has ever seen. I left home so many times, it made my mother _crazy_.” Jim’s smile got a little sad. “I know what it feels like to have to get out of a place, Jojo, believe me.”

Jo sighed, leaning into Jim’s warmth. “I don’t want to go back,” she said, so quietly that Jim barely caught it. He didn’t say anything, just hugged her tighter as they watched Leonard negotiate with his dreaded ex-wife.

Overhead, the sky burst into multi-colored chaos.


	2. Chapter 2

_2267.1, U.S.S. Enterprise_

“Funny feeling happened today, somewhere buried in the past. Didn’t mean that much anyway, I know that love will never, ever last…”

It took Leonard a moment to realize that he was not alone. The voice drifting in his head was not the computer informing him of an emergency, nor was it Jim’s overly cheerful voice, talking about an away mission. It sounded like a male voice, but someone female was definitely more prominent. A female voice that was incredibly familiar.

“Computer,” Leonard croaked out, rubbing his eyes, “lights, forty percent. Time, please.”

“Oh nine hundred hours, sir.”

“Thank you.”

That caught him. He _never_ thanked the computer. Jim did, because Jim was Jim and that was just one of his quirks. Leonard didn’t see the point, because it was a _computer_. He had only ever thanked the computer once, and he had been incredibly drunk. He had finished up a rather exuberant call from Jo, which had been followed by a rather rowdy poker game that ended up with him in his room, having a conversation with the ship while Scotty and Jim howled with laughter. Not one of his prouder moments, to be honest. He couldn’t even remember what had made him so happy…

 _Jo._ A little voice in the back of his mind reminded him of the main source of happiness in the world, and Leonard shot straight up in bed. _Jo was here, on the_ Enterprise. The events of the previous night swirled through his mind and Leonard smiled. His daughter was here, in San Francisco, aboard the _U.S.S. Enterprise_ , living with him while he checked medical supplies before the Admirals gave them a new mission and sent them out into the unknown.

Leonard felt his smile fade. What would happen to Jo when Jim was given a new mission? Jocelyn had told him to send her back to Macon, but Leonard really didn’t want to do that. Jo had come to him, travelled all the way across the goddamned country, just to get _away_ from Georgia. He didn’t want to give her up, _couldn’t_ give her up. Not his baby girl. Not after being away from her for so long.

Suddenly, the urge to see his daughter was the most pressing item on his agenda. Leonard slid out of bed, throwing on a pair of sweats and a Starfleet t-shirt over his boxers. It was a weird feeling, knowing that Joanna was just outside his bedroom. It was also going to take some getting used to. He popped into the bathroom, desperately trying to flatten his hair while brushing his teeth. He spit into the sink and looked into the mirror. Looking back at him was a man he barely recognized. For almost thirteen years, the reflection in the mirror had been bitter, miserable, and depressingly sad.

For the first time since the divorce, Leonard caught himself smiling.

“Don’t get your hopes up, buddy,” he mumbled, trying to control the grin taking up his face. “They may not let her stay. You may have to send her back to the Ice Queen after all. Get prepared to break out the bourbon.”

A loud _“OW!”_ broke him out of his tirade and he made his way into the front room, ready to grab his med kit. He stopped at the door, however, when he was greeted by a bouncing, bobbing, effervescent teenager, singing along with some song that he didn’t know.

Leonard McCoy decided right then and there that he would never get tired of seeing his daughter first thing in the morning.

“Houston, we’ve got a problem! The ground control couldn’t stop them—Oh! Mornin’, Daddy.”

Jo was in blue jeans and a white t-shirt, barefoot and ponytailed. She didn’t even stop dancing as she flashed him a smile, moving to the replicator and pulling out two plates of pancakes.

 “Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, wouldn’t you like to come with me? Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, surfin’ the sun as it starts to rise…” she sang, setting the stacks on the table that already had coffee, juice, bacon, peanut butter, and syrup gracing its top. She pointed to the chair closest to Leonard, indicating that he should sit down. The song ended with a final drum beat and Jo said, “Computer, I think that’s enough for this mornin’, thanks.” Grinning, Jo joined her father at the table, drawing her feet up underneath her as she sat.

“I didn’t wake you up, did I?” Jo asked, reaching for the orange juice. “I tried to keep it low.”

“Not at all.” Leonard poured himself a cup of coffee, taking a long sip, regarding his daughter over the rim of his mug. Jo carefully drizzled syrup on blueberry pancakes, oblivious. Leonard smiled as he watched her. He didn’t get enough chances to look at Joanna, to marvel at this human being that was half of him. Same pointed facial shape, same ears, her mother’s eyes, but in his color. Her hair was a few shades lighter, but Leonard knew it would be as dark as his own by the time she hit her late twenties. The way she pressed her lips together as she concentrated on cutting her pancakes into individual squares, the way she propped her elbows up on the table, the way she cocked an eyebrow when getting lost in thought – all him. He didn’t know how she had become such a copy, and he didn’t really care. As long as she had all of his good qualities and none of his vices, he could die a happy man.

“You’ve really got to stop starin’, Dad. My ego’s going to rival Jim’s, not to mention it’s rude to stare.” Jo didn’t even look up as she spoke; she was too busy contemplating the way the syrup ran in rivers around pancake mountains. Leonard’s smile grew.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t realize it was a crime for a father to watch his daughter be OCD over her breakfast.” He set down his coffee and snagged a piece of bacon from her plate. Jo looked up in mock indignation.

“Excuse me, but that was mine.”

“You want it back?” he teased and she made a face.

“Blech. No thanks, you hold onto that for me. No refund needed.” Jo sighed, slipping another piece of bacon onto her plate. “I had the perfect salty to syrup ratio going until you ruined it, sir.” She looked up at him from under long lashes, her look mirroring the one he gave Jim every day. “Way to go.”

“I do what I can,” he said, cradling his coffee cup against his chest. “How long have you been up?” he asked, watching Jo swirl her bacon in the syrup, mopping up pancake crumbs.

“Forty-five minutes, maybe?” She shrugged, munching thoughtfully. “I couldn’t really sleep.”

“Homesick?” Leonard asked, trying to keep the dread out of his voice. Jo shook her head, resting her chin on her knee. They were silent for a long moment, Jo staring at the floor, Leonard staring at Jo. There were never awkward silences in their relationship, but there was the understanding that if something wasn’t said to break the silence, something bad could come up. The fiasco known as the “Eighth-Grade-Horror” was one such conversation. That was the talk when Leonard learned that he needed a little more practice when it came to talking about boys. Since then, the two of them had reached an unspoken agreement: bring up something completely platonic if conversation becomes too uncomfortable.

“Who was that band you were listening to?” Leonard asked, and Jo looked up, smiling.

“McFly. They’re a big hit back home – a lot of my friends go absolutely nuts over them.”

“But not you?” He cocked his head, taking a pancake from the stack and spreading peanut butter over the top before folding the pancake in half and taking a bite.

“No, I like them, but I understand that there’s a difference between fiction and reality. I don’t pretend that I’m going to marry Dougie or plan to have Tom’s babies, simply because they write good songs.”

Leonard almost choked on his pancake and glanced up at his daughter. Her smile was sweet, but her eyes were all mischief. “Do we have to talk about havin’ babies at the table?” he gasped, sipping coffee to get the peanut butter out of his throat.

Jo rolled her eyes. “Sorry, _Doctor_. My bad.”

“Not that kind of doctor,” he said.

“But you could be if you wanted, right? I mean, if you really had to, you could deliver a baby?”

“Well, sure. We’re trained to do everything, in case of an emergency.” Father surveyed daughter. “Is there somethin’ I need to know?”

Jo smiled faintly, shaking her head. “No, Dad, you’re safe. That’s not why I left home.” _There._ It was out, now, in the open to be picked up. Another unspoken rule of Jo/Leonard conversation etiquette: sensitive topics of conversation were not to be discussed until one party opened the floor for discussion. This was more for Joanna’s benefit when she was younger, since Leonard couldn’t really tell her about the diseases and blood that he dealt with on a weekly basis, but as she grew older, they shared more until there were no more secrets. Jo told him about her crushes at school, who was definitely doing something illegal in the bathroom at lunch, and Leonard told her about space and all of its dangers.

Clearing his throat, Leonard poured himself another cup of coffee. “Can we talk now?”

Jo shrugged. Leonard frowned. He was beginning to recognize one of his vices, and he didn’t like it. “Don’t do that, Joanna,” he said as gently as possible. “What’s goin’ on, darlin’?”

She sighed and played with her fork, pushing it through puddles of syrup. “I told you last night that I couldn’t be in that house anymore.”

“Yep.”

“Well… that’s just about it.” Jo bit her lip, risking a glance at Leonard, dropping her eyes back down when she saw his confusion. “Never mind.”

“Foul. You can’t bring somethin’ up and then drop it.” At her disbelieving look, he raised an eyebrow. “Your rules, not mine.”

Jo grumbled, but didn’t protest. “There’s just too much crap to deal with, you know, ever since Momma married _Daniel_ …”

The way she spat the man’s name, Leonard knew something was off. “They’ve been together for a while, hmm?”

Her shoulders crept towards her ears, but she caught them just in time. “Yeah… I forget when she met him, but they’ve been married for four years, I think.” Her voice became monotone and quiet, so much that Leonard had to lean forward to hear her. “Momma thinks he’s the greatest thing. _‘Daniel’s so nice to us, he’s so supportive of you. I can’t understand why you don’t treat him better,’_ ” she said and Jo’s imitation of her mother was dead on. She sniffed, running her wrist under her nose. “She doesn’t see how much of a creep he is.”

Something icy dropped into Leonard’s stomach. “What do you mean?” he asked, keeping his voice neutral.

Jo didn’t look up. “At first, he would just say weird things. Things that I heard the boys at school say, but I had never heard from a grown man. Just odd stuff, like jokes that were kind of dirty, you know?” She shifted in her chair, tucking her knees under her chin. Leonard studied her, watched as she drew in on herself. “Then he started showin’ up in really weird places, like the hallway after I got out of the shower or my bedroom door right after I finished gettin’ dressed. I started getting really paranoid, checkin’ the doors two or three times to make sure they were locked.”

The something icy flared into roaring, blazing rage. Leonard didn’t move as he listened, afraid of what he would do if he let the anger flowing through his body take over.

“One time, I had some friends over, and we were downstairs watchin’ a movie, and he came downstairs and pretended to be supervisin’, but it was…weird.” Jo smiled bitterly as she realized that she had used the same word for everything her step-father did. “Momma was asleep, and I could tell that my friends were creeped out…I asked him to leave, but he told me that I was being silly, that he just wanted to watch the movie. It was awful.” Jo looked up then and froze at the look on her father’s face. “Dad? Are you—”

“What else did he do, Joanna?” God, his voice was terrible, all rumble and anger and absolutely no calm.

Jo raised an eyebrow at her dad’s mood, but pushed on. “He would just watch me. Eventually, I told him to screw off, and he grabbed my wrists, told me I was ungrateful.” She snorted. “I was ungrateful that I didn’t want his attention, that I didn’t want a father-figure in my life. I told him I already had a father, thanks, I didn’t need him. Then he slapped me and—whoa.” Jo looked up in surprise as Leonard surged from the table, his face like thunder. He went to the comm, punching a button hard enough to make Jo wince.

_“Hey, Bones, what’s—”_

“I need you to come get Jo and show her around the ship, Captain. I have a call to make.” He couldn’t see straight, couldn’t turn and look at Jo without crying. _His baby girl._ He couldn’t believe that he had _congratulated_ that bitch when she had gotten remarried.

 _“Absolutely. Be there in five.”_ Leonard wanted to hug Jim. He had his annoying moments, but he knew when to put on his serious face and get to business.

“Dad?” Jo said gently behind him and he gritted his teeth to keep back the tears. “Daddy?” she said again, and he spun around. In three heartbeats, she was in his arms, engulfed in a hug that was so full of emotion that it hurt.

“You’re not goin’ back there,” he mumbled into her hair. “I won’t let her take you back there. I’ll do whatever I have to and keep you here. You’re not goin’ back,” he repeated over and over, like saying it a million times would make it true. Jo curled her fingers into his t-shirt, arms wrapped around his waist.

“Thank you, Daddy,” she mumbled into his shirt, and he barely stopped the dry sob that threatened to break out of his throat. Leonard lowered his lips to her hair, kissing her head like he used to when she was just a baby, after she fell and scraped her knee. He held her like that for what felt like eternity, rocking slowly back and forth, just holding his daughter.

The door buzzed and he looked up long enough to call, “S’open,” before squeezing her one more time and forcing his arms to let go. “Go get your shoes, darlin’,” he said softly. Jo nodded and disappeared into the bedroom where her bag was stashed.

“What’s going on?” Jim asked, in full uniform even though they weren’t going on any missions for at least another week. His eyebrows flew up towards his hairline when he saw the murderous look on Leonard’s face.

“The fucker hit my kid,” Leonard growled and Jim’s eyebrows, ever expressive, descended into what ensigns called “The Angry V of Doom.”

“Who, and where is he?” Again, Leonard remembered why Jim Kirk was his best friend. The doctor shook his head.

“Jocelyn’s husband. Used to sit around and watch Jo, and now she tells me that he hit her.” Leonard met Jim’s angry gaze with determined eyes. “I sure hope you can get Pike on board with lettin’ her stay on this ship, because there is _no fucking way_ I am sendin’ her back there.”

“I will do everything within my own devious power to make it happen, Bones, I promise.” Leonard half-expected Jim to spit on his palm and offer to shake.

“Mornin’!” If Jo was upset about the conversation she had just had with her father, neither Leonard nor Jim could tell. She beamed at Jim, skipping over to give him a hug. Jim squeezed her extra tight and nodded at Leonard, who nodded back. He needed Jo gone for an hour, tops. His wrath needed to be directed, and _soon._

“You are in luck, Miss McCoy, because today, and today only, you are getting to tour the _Enterprise_ from the inside, led by yours truly.” Jim offered Jo one arm, and she threw a grin over her shoulder at her father.

“I’ll see you later, Daddy.” The smile she got in return was only at its usual half-brilliance, but it was still a smile. Jo didn’t believe in dwelling in the bad; the motto on her ceiling in her bedroom back in Georgia encouraged positive thinking. However, she knew it wasn’t that easy for her father. Jo had been a prime witness to the downward spiral that had taken her parents and turned them into the people they were today: the bitter, grumpy doctor and the fixated, narcissistic homemaker. They knew what the bad could do to a person.

“Have fun, darlin’,” Leonard said, kissing her on the forehead. “Be good.”

“Aren’t I always?” Jim snorted, Jo giggled and they were gone.

Taking a deep breath, Leonard went into the bathroom and took a quick shower. He combed his hair, put on his uniform, and cleaned up the breakfast dishes. His mind was perfectly blank as he did all of these things, one single thought running through his mind. He _must not_ lose his temper. If he came at this rationally, spelled everything out and made things plain, they couldn’t take Jo. He wouldn’t let them.

Once everything was in its place and Leonard felt that he had enough control, he dialed in Jocelyn’s number and stood at ease: hands behind his back, feet shoulder-width apart, breathing through his nose, listening to his heartbeat.

“Len!” She was way too chipper, and he took a moment to feel some sick satisfaction that he was about to ruin her day. It was petty and mean, but he really couldn’t find it in himself to care. “What flight times have you found to get Jo back home?”

“She’s staying here,” he said in a neat, clipped tone. Her eyes went wide with shock, blinking as she processed his words. “Joanna will be staying with me until I take her to school in the fall,” he continued, and he saw Daniel walk through the frame behind Jocelyn. His stomach tightened, his shoulders tensed, and he bit his cheek _hard_ to keep from exploding. The man was several hundred miles away, and Leonard hadn’t quite perfected killing with one look, but Daniel Moore gave him a reason to practice. “All I need you to do is send her clothes and any belongings you think she might need. What you don’t send, I will provide for her.” _Short and sweet, just like the judge when he ruled in your favor, bitch,_ Leonard thought, still pleased by Jocelyn’s dazed expression.

“I-I don’t understand,” Jocelyn said slowly. “What do you mean, she’s staying with you?”

“Unless your basic grasp of English has left you, I should think that it’s fairly obvious.” Spock would be proud of his detachment, his stoicism. He hadn’t even sworn at her, yet.

Jocelyn’s eyes narrowed, and she became the woman he recognized best. This was the woman who took everything, who lied and manipulated and stole his life away after he had worked to give her everything. _I know you,_ Leonard thought, his own eyes narrowing to slits. _Bring it on._

 “Leonard, I will not hesitate to get the courts involved,” she said, and he just about lost it. The faint smell of syrup and bacon in the air helped him keep his focus and he kept Jo’s face in his mind as he uttered the best impromptu speech he had ever given in his life.

“Do it. I dare you. When you pulled that shit on me the first time around, I didn’t have anything except a med school diploma under my belt. I’ve been CMO on this starship for too goddamned long for you to win again. I will not have Joanna in the same house as a man that hits her. I will not allow my child to be stalked like some piece of ass on the street. I will not let you call me a bad father for doing my job and providing for Jo while you don’t even know why our child left in the first place. You will not lecture me on being a good husband and father, Jocelyn, not this time. This time, I’m doing what’s best for Jo, and she’s staying with me. Tell your scum bag husband that if he ever so much as _thinks_ about my daughter, I’ll find him, and I have a Vulcan friend that packs one hell of a punch. You contact the courts, and I’ll get the whole Federation involved. I work on the best goddamned ship in the fleet, sweetheart; I’ve got friends in high places. You will _not_ take my daughter away from me again.”

He wasn’t even breathing hard.

“Goodbye.”


	3. Chapter 3

_2267.1, U.S.S. Enterprise_

 

It would be worth being in space for years on end, Jo mused, if she could be stationed on a ship like the _Enterprise_. Jim had taken her up to the bridge first, to show off his pride and joy, and Jo found her metaphorical heaven. Her inner geek saw the navigation panels and the comm grids and went into technological bliss. Her friends at home had always laughed when she started talking about Starfleet, because Jo didn’t talk about the distant planets or the influential connections – she talked about the starships. Jo had always been fascinated with the mechanics of space travel, but hated the physics required to fully understand. Being on the bridge of the _Enterprise_ , however, was like sampling that perfection without the horrid aftertaste.

She swiveled slowly in the Captain’s chair, having already explored most of the other stations to the full extent. Her legs came up to cross in the seat as she stared blankly at the view screen, out to where the maintenance crews were performing standard check-ups on the exterior of the ship.

With a jolt, Jo realized that it would only be a few days until the _Enterprise_ was airborne again. Her fate was still undecided. Daddy had said she wouldn’t have to go back to Macon, but Momma’s lawyer was a fierce, frigid, man-hater, who had won enough custody battles that something like this wouldn’t even faze her. Maybe she would have to go back; The courts had ruled over Dad before, they could do it again.

Jo was so lost in her own thoughts that she barely heard Jim call her name. It was only when she felt his hand on her shoulder that she looked up, and realized that her eyes were stinging. Her heart sung Jim’s praises as an understanding look crept into his eyes as he crouched down in front of Jo until he was looking up at her.

“He’s not going to let them take you,” Jim said softly, smiling. “I’ve known Bones for years now, and I can promise you that he would do anything to keep you here.”

“What if he can’t, though?” Jo asked in a trembling voice, her throat starting to burn with the onset of tears. “What if Momma makes him send me back?”

“With all due respect, Jojo, the only thing your mother can make Bones is miserable.”

Jo grinned. “This is very true.” She sniffed, eyes drifting away from Jim to land somewhere on the floor next to him. “Hey, um, so, what happens if he does get to keep me?”

Jim’s smile slowly faded as he studied Jo’s face. “I’m not quite sure yet, honey,” he confessed, “but I know that your dad’s not the only person on this ship that has quite a lot of will when it comes to getting their way.”

Jo bit her lip, still not meeting Jim’s eyes. “I don’t want you to get in trouble because of me.”

Jim laughed at that, patting Jo’s knee affectionately as he rose out of his crouch. “Jojo, no one is getting into trouble because of you, and believe me, if I really want to find trouble, I could do it just fine on my own.” He offered her a hand, pulling her out of the Captain’s seat. “Now, what else do you want to see on my glorious vessel? We could take a look down in Engineering, if you like?”

“Wouldn’t it be better for Mr. Scott to show me around down there?”

Blue eyes narrowed as Jim pondered. “Mm, yeah, you’re probably right.” He sighed, pausing in front of the lift. “And your dad’s probably better to show you around the medical bay, and I’m only decent  with botany, so we’ll have to wait for Sulu to get back to show you all the pretty flowers, and I guess Chekov would be best to show you around the transporter room…” Jim huffed. “Well. This is depressing.”

Laughing, Jo hugged his arm. “Don’t worry, Captain. We can always go take a look at the mess hall.”

Beaming, Jim looped an arm around her shoulders. “I’m certainly qualified to do that. Maybe we can scrounge up something that would make your father quite unhap—oh!”

The lift doors slid open to reveal Chekov, staring at a PADD with an intensity that Jim envied.

“Aha! Here is our in-house, Russian genius himself!” Jim said, smiling. “He can explain warping and star charts far better than I ever could.”

Chekov looked up in surprise, his face turning a delicate shade of pink when he saw his captain and an attractive young lady standing in front of him. “I am sorry, Captain,” he said quickly, “I didn’t mean to interrupt.”

“Nonsense,” Jim objected, “we were just on our way out. I’m showing Doctor McCoy’s daughter around the ship while he deals with some personal business. What can I do for you?”

“If you could please sign this,” Chekov said, holding the PADD out. Jim took it, beginning to read over the equations that his navigator had presented. He wandered away from the pair, thinking, and Chekov turned to Jo, smiling. “Hello.” His accent was thick, and ears pink, with embarrassment.

Jo suddenly felt very, very shy. “Hi.”

“Pavel Chekov.” He offered his hand, the other tucked behind his back. If a superior officer were to take him by surprise, Jo reasoned, he could jump into a salute with no problems.

“Joanna McCoy,” she said, letting a little southern drawl slip into her voice as she took his hand and shook it. “Most everybody calls me Jo.”

Pavel’s smile widened, eyes crinkling at the corners. “Pleasure.”  

“Yep, Jojo here is pretty well known, what with being Bones’ daughter and all.” Jim slipped up behind Jo and clapped a hand on her shoulder. Jo’s knees buckled and she turned to glare at the captain, whose blue eyes were just a little too wide to be completely innocent. “Well, it’s true! And you might as well have Chekov call you ‘Jojo’ as well. I mean, he’s practically family.” Jim beamed at his navigator, who’s smile was beginning to look a little forced. “Just think of Pavel here as a foreign, highly intelligent, older brother.” Jim glanced at Jo. The girl was bright red and staring a hole in the floor. “Well, my work here is done,” the captain said, handing the PADD back to Chekov. “Everything looks good, Lieutenant. Nice job. Come along, Jojo, we’ve got to take a look at the mess hall!” Jim whipped past Chekov into the lift, raising his eyebrows meaningfully at the young woman. “Chop, chop!”

Jo sighed and offered a small smile to Chekov. “I would like to apologize for the captain’s behavior. Clearly, he’s high.”

Chekov laughed and took a step closer to her.  “I like the name Joanna,” he whispered. The way her name rolled off of his tongue made Jo’s stomach twist. “It is very pretty.”

Brown eyes glowed happily up at him. “Thank you,” she whispered back, slipping past him to join Jim in the lift. “Onward, Captain,” she commanded, smiling at Chekov. “I was promised a full tour!”

The door to the lift hissed closed, but all Pavel could see were brown eyes and a big smile.

 

 

Jim and Jo were interrupted from their cherry Pop-Tarts by a silent Leonard, who jerked his head towards the door. Jim nodded and hugged Jo. “You two have fun. I need to go talk to a man about Federation policy.”

Jo eyed her father warily. “Am I in trouble?”

Leonard’s smile was tired but genuine. “Not at all, darlin’.” He clapped Jim on the shoulder as the captain passed. “Thanks,” he said, hushed so Jo wouldn’t overhear.

“Everything taken care of?” Jim asked in his captain voice. “I need to make sure your end is wrapped up before I put us all on the line, Bones.”

The doctor’s eyes were sad but his smile didn’t falter. “I think we’re good, Jim. Jocelyn won’t be runnin’ to the lawyers this time. Not after what I heard her yellin’ at that _husband_ of hers.” The way he spat the end of his sentence made Jim wince.

“Jesus, Bones, what did you say to her?”

“Doesn’t matter,” Leonard mumbled as Jo looked up from where she was sweeping crumbs into her hand. “I just know that Jocelyn won’t be comin’ after her, and that’s enough. Did you have fun, kiddo?” he asked in a louder voice and Jo nodded.

“For sure. Jim said you’d probably be best qualified to show me the med bay, so that is where the tour shall continue!” She tossed the crumbs in the recycler and skipped over to her father. “Show me your studio, O, artist of medicine,” Jo said dramatically, flinging one arm over Leonard’s shoulder.  

“More like torture chamber,” Jim muttered and Jo giggled as the good doctor glared. The captain waved them off down the hall, smiling as Jo’s chatter filled the hallway. Bones was laughing in that deep, easy way he had. If Bones was upset about how things had gone with Jocelyn, he certainly wasn’t showing it.

Jim’s throat worked. The next step in the process was going to be the hardest, and he wasn’t sure about the outcome. James T. Kirk didn’t believe in no-win scenarios, it was true, but he also liked knowing that he _could_ win. He was entering into an arena the likes of which he had never played in before, and it was daunting. Not that he’d ever admit his trepidation, of course. Jim Kirk had faced banishment, certain death, and angry ex-girlfriends; he certainly wasn’t worried about one meeting with Christopher Pike over what basically boiled down to a custody battle.

He should have been.

“I’m begging you, Admiral, please.” Jim Kirk was a genius according to his files, but he couldn’t seem to grasp that there were certain things that the Federation frowned upon, such as a teenage girl running around on a galactic starship unchecked. Pike sighed and rubbed his eyes. He was getting too old for this shit.

“Just give us an eight-month mission,” Jim continued, feeling his argument slip out from under him even as he braced his hands against the mahogany of Pike’s desk. “We’ll be flawless, come back the Academy to report, let Bones drop Jo off at school, and be on our merry way. I won’t ask you for another favor ever again.” He grinned sheepishly at the look of disbelief Pike shot at him. “Well, not for another ten years, at least.”

Chris Pike shook his head slowly. “I can’t, Kirk. It’s going against too much regulation.”

Jim threw up his hands. “Yeah, but you know me… I live to go against regulation.”

“No, Jim.”

Blue eyes glinted dangerously as Jim regarded his commanding officer. “You remember when you found Bones?” At Pike’s surprised huff of breath, he rolled his eyes. “C’mon, I’m his best friend. He told me all about those first few days after the divorce. “ Jim crossed his arms, coldly regarding the seated man across the desk. “You pulled him out of a bar like you pulled me off the floor, brushed him off, gave him a similar pep talk to the one I remember, and got him on that shuttle. You remember what he was like when he had to give Joanna up the first time.”

Pike’s eyes narrowed. “I don’t like to remember men at their lowest moments, Kirk.”

Jim saw an uncomfortable opening and he took it. “Well, that’s all you’re going to be seeing if he can’t stay with her, sir. He’s missed out on thirteen years – eight months would mean everything. A kid’s not much without a father.” It was a low blow, and they both knew it, but the look on Pike’s face told Jim that he had the admiral right where he wanted him. “Not to mention the fact that her stepfather is a complete scum bag. You remember what I was like, right? Jo’ll be the exact same if she has to go back.” He had to work hard to keep the tremor out of his voice. “Living in a home where you don’t get any respect has detrimental results, sir.”

Pike eyed him, eyebrow raised, and Jim held his breath. Time seemed creep by and Jim tried desperately not to fidget. He made a mental note to tell Spock about his epic success at not moving a muscle for five minutes when Pike sighed and Jim’s entire attention span was focused in the moment.

 “Fine,” Pike said, leaning forward. “I’ll talk to Archer. But if he says no, he says no, Captain, end of story.”

Jim grinned. “I wonder what my policies should be about stowaways…” he pondered out loud, easing towards the door.

Pike’s eyes widened in incredulity. “Damnit, Kirk, I mean it! Don’t make me regret this!” Jim waved jauntily and slipped out the door as he yelled. “Jim, are you even listening? Jim?” Certain the captain had slipped away, Pike sighed.

“That kid is gonna be the death of me.”

 

 

He found them in the botany lab, where a newly-returned Sulu was showing Joanna the crops he was cultivating to take to a farmer colony on their next mission. “If we give them something to work with, they can usually fend for themselves pretty well,” Sulu was explaining to a wide-eyed Jo. Leonard was watching his daughter with fond eyes, but he zeroed in on Jim when the captain came through the door like a hawk on a particularly helpless bunny. Suddenly, Jim felt _very_ sympathetic for Jo’s future boyfriends.

“Isn’t that detrimental to colonial growth, having someone sort their problems for them?” Jo asked, but Sulu’s answer was lost to Jim’s ears as Bones pushed past him into the hall.

“Well?” The doctor’s eyes were frantic, searching Jim’s face for any hint of what news was to come. Jim allowed himself one smirk at Bones’ expense and said eyes narrowed. _“Well?”_

“Relax. I may have had to whine on my knees, and pull the devoted father card, but she can stay, at least until she goes off to school,” Jim said and was suddenly thrown off-balance as Bones tackled him in a rare hug.

“Thank you, Jim,” Bones said, pulling away after a long moment. “You have no idea how much this means to me, to _us.”_ He cast a glance over his shoulder, at Jo who was laughing with Sulu over some botanical creation. “She’d thank you if she knew.”

“You ever going to tell her?”

“Maybe.” Bones’ eyes still had that sadness that Jim recognized from the early days in the Academy, when the divorce was still fresh in Bones’ mind. “I think she’d just be angry that we put everyone through so much strain, y’know?”  

Jim put his hand on his friend’s shoulder, forcing Bones to look him in the eye. “I had to bring up my father, Bones. It wasn’t pretty.” He smiled and jerked his chin towards Jo and Sulu, heads bent over a rare flower from a distant planet. “You better go spend some quality time with your kid, and don’t be surprised if I steal her every once in a while.”

Bones smiled and Jim decided that he could get used to his CMO smiling more often. “Deal,” Bones said, heading back towards the lab.

Jim turned to go and kept turning, remembering. “Oh, and I deflected a certain boy-type from Jo today, so you owe me one.”

It was scary, the look on Bones’ face. Not murderous, per say, just very,  very intimidating. “Thanks very much.” Jim nodded and turned to go, but Bones’ voice drew him back. “Jim.” A cocked eyebrow was all Bones got for his trouble and he huffed. “Gonna tell me who?”

Jim flashed a grin as he shook his head. “Nah. I don’t feel like having to bail you out for murder.” Bones snorted but didn’t object. Jim chuckled. “See you in tomorrow,” he called out, making his way towards his quarters.

Bones grunted a quick good-bye and went in to tell Jo the good news.

After he met with Hikaru for dinner and delivered the captain-approved equations to Commander Scott for review, Pavel Chekov returned to his quarters for a full six hours before Mr. Spock returned to the ship and owned his soul. It was always nice to come back to Earth and take a deep breath of air on a planet whose gravitational pull wouldn’t cause limbs to fall off, or whose residents were concerned about more than the captain…for dinner. However, there was something about deep space, about the quiet of inky black nothingness, that made Pavel’s heart sing, and he could hardly wait to return. The people aboard the _U.S.S. Enterprise_ were his friends, people on which he knew he could rely; space held no adventure too daunting for Jim Kirk’s crew.

Pavel’s mind drifted to the captain’s news at dinner this evening – Joanna McCoy would be joining them on their next mission, just until she went away to Stanford in the fall. Pavel had to admit that he was impressed. Not only was she going to a highly impressive school, but she was also daring enough to brave eight months aboard this starship.

He thought back to the way her eyes had sparkled at him today on the bridge, and his stomach tightened. Immediately, he felt a hot surge of shame color his face. She was seventeen. He was twenty-five. That was the same age difference between himself and the captain. Never mind that her laugh was pure and clear, and she was – what was that expression the captain had used – smart as a…whip, whatever that meant. Clearly, she was intelligent. She was in the captain’s good graces, and she was quite pretty.

In fact, it would be an insult not to call her beautiful.

It was best not to dwell in such dangerous territory.

Pavel rolled over onto his stomach, breathing deeply into his pillow, trying to will himself to sleep. When fifteen minutes had gone by and all he had been able to focus on was Joanna’s face, smiling and pleased to see him, he groaned. Rolling over onto his back, he flung one arm over his eyes. He hadn’t felt this much like a teenager, well, _ever_. Even when he was of the proper age to be feeling this way, he had been too wrapped up in his studies to ever fully interact with his hormones. It looked like ten years of sexual repression was finally catching up to him.

“Oy,” Pavel said into the darkness. “This is going to make visits to the medical bay very interesting.”  


	4. I Will Hold On Hope

_2267.5, U.S.S. Enterprise  
January 5, 2267_

 

“Nurse Chapel, I’m going to go supervise the loading crews with those supplies. You’ve got everything handled up here?”

“Of course, Doctor.”

“Daddy, can I come?”

“You best stay up here, darlin’. There’ll be a lot of people running around.”

“Dad,” Jo said in that _Are you completely serious right now?_ tone of voice that teenagers had perfected centuries before her birth, “I’m the daughter of the CMO. I might as well be invisible.”

“Oh, Joanna banana,” Leonard sighed, taking his daughter’s shoulders in his hands and shaking her gently from side to side. “I don’t care how old you are. You are not going down the loading docks where men of every age are just lookin’ for a young woman to corrupt.”

“Daddy, I’m not that corruptible.”

“Yes, you are. Don’t try to tell me otherwise, or you’re not datin’ until you’re married.”

Christine Chapel tried her hardest to hide her smile as Jo cast her enormous puppy-dog eyes. “You’re ruining my social life, old man,” she muttered when the chief nurse gave her no help.

“You don’t need a social life. You’re seventeen and livin’ on a starship.” Leonard kissed his daughter’s forehead and brushed past her to meet the captain and his first officer in the loading bay.

“He has a good point, sweetie,” Christine said. She smiled when Jo huffed and flopped down onto a biobed. “You don’t think so?” Christine asked, not needing to turn around to see Jo’s pout.

“We-ell,” Jo said, looking everywhere but at the nurse. “I know he’s right… but I can’t tell him that. It would be like telling him that I really don’t like flying as much as I brag I do, because I’m just as aviophobic as he is, and that really sucks.”

“Parents aren’t supposed to be right?”

“Not about stuff that I want to be right about!”

“Ah.”

“Good morning.”

Both Jo and Christine turned to see a grinning Pavel standing in the doorway of the med bay, arms crossed, watching the exchange with amused green eyes. Christine’s eyes flew to Jo, who was flushing an interesting shade of pink – she looked like a carnation. Jo’s fingers were active in her hair, twisting locks of brown around and around until Christine was sure that there would be knots. She cleared her throat gently and shook her head when Jo looked over. The young woman released her hair and began twisting her skirt in her hands instead. She still hadn’t said anything back to him, Christine realized.

“What can I do for you, Lieutenant?” she said and Jo’s eyes held so much thanks, Christine almost started laughing.

Pavel smiled, his eyes drifting to Jo as he said, “I couldn’t help but overhear Doctor McCoy tell the captain that Jo was confined to the ship until we launched, and I thought Miss McCoy might like to join Lieutenant Sulu and myself on the Bridge while we run through diagnostics.”

“Yes, please!” Jo exclaimed, hopping off of the bed, bounding to the door. She looked over her shoulder at Christine, smiling sheepishly. “If Daddy asks…”

“I went to grab something, and when I turned around, you were gone.” Christine shooed the two of them out of the room. “Go on, get out of here. Be good!” she called. Jo’s answering huff made Pavel laugh and he, too, disappeared into the hall.

In the hallways of the _Enterprise_ , persons of every shirt color rushed by, eager to fulfill their duties for their ever-enthusiastic captain. Jo felt like her eyes would explode out of her head as she strove to take in everything at once. A group of linguists passed, jabbering away in a language that sounded scarily exotic, pointing at various PADDs. Three security guards pressed between Jo and Pavel, each taller and broader than the other. Jo caught snippets of conversations here and there: stories being shared about the brief shore-leave, orders that needed to be filled out and sent to the Board for approval, bets being placed on how soon the captain would find himself in the sickbay on their next mission… Jo’s ears were burning with ship gossip and general Starfleet productivity. She touched Pavel’s elbow lightly to get his attention in the sea of organized chaos.

“Is it always like this before a launch?” she asked, bringing her lips close to his ear to be heard over the melee.

“Like what?” Pavel looked at her curiously, trying to suppress the shivers that threatened to wrack his body from her hot breath in his ear. Jo waved her arms around a few times, trying to find the words.

“So…busy. I don’t know…It seems like y’all would never hit warp at this rate.” She smiled shyly. “I guess I sound pretty much like a civilian, huh?”

Pavel chuckled, shaking his head. “No, you do not sound like a civilian.” Jo cast him a doubtful look and he grinned. “Well, not completely. You said ‘warp,’ which is a term I doubt many civilians know.” He guided her gently towards the lift, entering the code for the bridge and leaning against the lift wall. Watching Jo try to watch everyone else had made him a little dizzy. “I suppose I have never noticed all the activity before,” Pavel said thoughtfully, “or maybe I am just so used to it that it has become normal for me.”

“I don’t know that I could ever get used to all that,” Jo said. “It seems so rushed.” She blinked, thinking. “And yet, so efficient at the same time. Everyone knows what they’re doing, and when it needs to be done. It’s fascinatin’.”

“Perhaps that is why I have never noticed it before,” Pavel offered. “I have my duties to attend to, both on the Bridge and in Engineering with Commander Scott. I have never had time to see what everyone else is doing. It is nice to see the ship through your eyes,” he said warmly. “It allows me to have a new perspective.”

Jo felt her face flush. “Well, I don’t know about a new perspective,” she said slowly. “But you definitely know more about what’s goin’ on around here than I do.”

Pavel’s gaze was steady on her face. “You have a most charming accent.”

Blinking at the sudden change of pace, Jo felt her stomach flutter. “Thank…you?”

The lift slid smoothly to a halt, doors sliding open to reveal the Bridge, command crew busily bent over their stations to prepare the ship for launch. Every head turned in the direction of the lift, expecting their captain, but many turned back to their tasks when they saw no one but Doctor McCoy’s young daughter and the Russian navigator.

Hikaru Sulu, on the other hand, crowed happily and went to greet Jo, sweeping her up into a tight hug. “You escaped!” he said happily, squeezing Jo before setting her down. “I heard Captain Kirk telling Spock that the chances of McCoy letting you out of the sickbay before launch were slim to none, but you managed to get away.” He glanced at his best friend, who was determined not to meet his eye. “Pavel rescued you, huh?”

Jo nodded. “Pretty much.” Her eyes swept over the Bridge, waving at Lieutenant Uhura when the Communications officer sent a smile her way. “This is amazin’. I mean, I saw it up here a few days ago with Jim – er, I mean, Captain Kirk – but it definitely looks way cooler with people actually workin’.”  

“That’s the idea,” Hikaru said, still trying to get Pavel’s attention, but the navigator was studiously avoiding eye contact, damnit. Hikaru was about to say something, anything, to draw Pavel’s eye to him when Jo grabbed his arm with the enthusiasm of someone that had never really been around the shiny gadgetry of a starship’s Bridge more than once or twice in her life.

Pavel watched Hikaru guide Joanna around the ship control panels, chewing on the inside of his cheek as he followed slowly behind. He hadn’t missed the knowing looks Hikaru had been sending his way; it had been a mistake to ask the pilot about the regulations when it came to dating anyone younger than oneself. He had been painfully careful to not mention Joanna’s name, but he had a feeling that Hikaru knew exactly about whom he had been speaking. Since that particular conversation, Hikaru had been trying to drag him off into corner, trying to get Pavel to confess what they both already knew.

As he watched Jo laugh at a joke told by one of the Ensigns, he felt something hot and possessive curl in his belly. Just as quickly, he tried to quell said feeling as soon as it cropped up. He was a grown man, for God’s sake. She wasn’t even eighteen. This point was driven even more intensely home as he caught Hikaru’s eye and saw the warnings there. _“Too young, too dangerous, too wrong,”_ deep brown eyes seemed to say, and Pavel wanted to hang his head in shame. He wanted to bolt, to find a place to hide – anything to keep the burning longing in his heart at bay. He was about to turn away, to gather himself and bring some sense into his head when his senses were filled with Joanna.

_Warm brown eyes that consumed his being._

_The faint scent of lilies and vanilla._

_The whisper of her hand against his arm._

_Voice filled with laughter._

_Her curiosity, almost tangible on his tongue._

“Will you show me how to calculate the proper coordinates for beaming?”

Pavel blinked down at her. “You want to know…” He wanted to groan aloud at the earnest, genuine enthusiasm. Only biting his cheek hard enough to draw blood could keep the sound pressed down. Clearing his throat, he nodded, finding himself returning her bright smile. “ _Da_ , I can show you. Of course.”

Jo’s smile went from bright to blinding in less time than it took Commander Spock to name off the first 20 digits of pi. “Excellent.”  

 

 

When Leonard returned to the sickbay, worn and grumpy after dealing with the loading crews for a longer amount of time than he believed to be completely necessary, he was rather put off by his missing daughter. He had to physically restrain himself from looking behind the biobeds; Jo wasn’t five anymore. Hide and seek wasn’t really her thing anymore.

Then again, Leonard thought, she was _Jo_ …

“Nurse Chapel, have you–”

“Haven’t seen her,” Christine said breezily and far too quickly, not looking up from the PADD in her hand. Leonard felt his teeth clench until a tic began in his jaw. He let out a slow breath, walking over to his head nurse and staring her down until she looked up, blue eyes far too innocent to be taken as such.

“How can you not have seen her?” Leonard began slowly, gaining power as he ranted. “She’s a seventeen-year-old girl, for Chrissake. She’s not that hard to miss!”

Christine surveyed the CMO with cool eyes. “I went in the closet to grab some more cortisone, and when I came out, she was gone.”

Their gazes met and held before Leonard snorted.

“A likely story.”

“Maybe she’s on the Bridge with Chekov.”

Leonard turned to look at Jim, who was lounging against the sickbay door. “Why would she be on the Bridge?” Another thought grabbed him and he took a step towards Jim. “And why with Chekov?”

The captain was unfazed by the manic glint in his CMO’s eye. “Because an ensign just told me that the Bridge was waiting for me, and that Jo is up there with them.” He smirked. “Relax, Bones. Jesus.”

The doctor took a deep breath and turned to Christine, who was eavesdropping even as she continued inventory. Impressive.

“I’ll be back.”

“Looking forward to it, sir.”

Neither the captain nor the doctor caught the surreptitious glances between Christine and M’Benga as the men departed from the sickbay.

The turbo lift was far too slow for Leonard’s liking. For some odd reason, he didn’t like the idea of Jo on the bridge with Chekov. Really, he didn’t like the idea of his daughter around any of the younger staff members, but the way Jim had specified that Jo was with _Chekov_ made Leonard uneasy. In his mind, his little girl was still just that: a little girl. The idea of her being interested in anyone, especially anyone on the _Enterprise_ , was too much for him to bear.

This might have been why, when the lift stopped at the Bridge and Leonard followed Jim out, the sight of Chekov leaning over Jo at the navigation panels made Leonard’s blood boil. The Russian was grinning down at Jo, guiding her fingers over the command board, showing her the different combinations that he went through on a daily basis. Jo’s eyes were focused on the panel, but her gaze kept drifting to their entwined fingers. There was a faint glow to her skin, and his as well, if one was really looking, which Leonard really was.

The niggling little thought that had been slowly been growing in the back of his mind roared to life and he grabbed Jim’s arm before the captain had time to make his presence known.

 “Jim.”

Jim had seen. He knew what Bones was going to ask almost before Bones knew himself. He decided, in the best interest of everyone involved, to play dumb just long enough to keep Bones from killing someone. “Hmm?”

“That boy-type you deflected?”

“Mhm?”

“Wouldn’t happen to be Chekov, would it?”

Jim flinched at the icy steel of Bones’ voice. “Well, I wouldn’t say _no_...”

“Oh, _hell no_.” And _that_ was a tone that Jim had never before heard out of another human being. It brought him back to the old days, the days when Nero was trying to exact revenge on the _Enterprise_ for the loss of Romulus and couldn’t say a word without anger and _hate_ seeping into every word.

Jim grasped his CMO firmly by the shoulders, going so far as to shake just enough to get Bones’ anguished eyes focused on him. “Remember breathing like we talked about, Bones. Slowly, and without homicidal intent.” He lowered his voice to be barely audible to anyone but the two of them – they were starting to attract attention. “Go back to the sickbay and find someone to hypo. I’ll send her back to your quarters, but you _need to get off the Bridge_.” Two could play at the scary-sounding voice game. Bones made to push past him, to grab his daughter away, but Jim shook him again, forcing him back into the lift. “That’s an order, Doctor,” Jim commanded, and Bones’ eyes cleared immediately. His throat worked for a moment, like he was considering disobeying, but years of trusting Jim’s orders had gotten him this far and he was conditioned to follow. With a curt nod, he punched the button on the lift.

Jim let out a slow, deep breath as the lift doors closed on his CMO. He had to admit – he kind of wanted to kill Chekov at the moment, too. After all, he was practically “Uncle Jim,” and didn’t that give him the rights to be over-protective as well? But Jim Kirk liked his hand-picked command crew, and he didn’t fancy the idea of having to bring in another navigator. Getting his emotions under control as much as possible, he turned to face his crew, now all awaiting his orders with alert eyes.

Pasting a smirk on his handsome face, the captain went to his chair. It was time to make the big bucks.

 

 

It hadn’t been one of his happier days in the sickbay, he had to admit. He had snapped at one of the new nurses, provoking a God-fearing glare from Chapel. If that wasn’t bad enough, he had almost tossed the new medical forms that he had to remember to fill out down the trash chute. That would be one hell of an explanation for the Board.

_“Well, you see, I think my daughter is infatuated with our navigator, and I was concentrating more on her than what I was doin’. I’m sorry?”_

Not only would they tear him a new one, they’d send Jo packing. That just wasn’t an option.

The door to his quarters slid open, and there she was, PADD perched on her lap, fingers playing in her hair, not really reading. He could tell by the way her eyes were staring blankly at her left knee, rather than at the screen in front of her. Lost in her own little world, completely oblivious to everything and everyone.

 _Not everyone_ , a nasty little voice inside of his head piped up. _She’s probably thinking about that kid._

“Hey, Jojo,” he said, hoping to shut the voice up before it got too out of control. “What’re you readin’?”

“The Two Towers,” she said absently, still twining her fingers in her hair.

“Haven’t you already read that one?”

“It’s my favorite. The Rohirrim kick ass.”

“Hmm. I always kind of liked Aragorn.”

“Oh, please… Éomer could totally take him.”

Leonard had to laugh at that, a tired chuckle that sounded far more worn than he cared to admit. Jo’s eyes came up at the sound of it, suddenly full of concern. “Daddy?”

He sighed heavily as he sank onto the narrow piece of furniture that Starfleet laughably called a couch. Slipping the PADD out of his daughter’s hands, Leonard patted the space next to him, inviting her over. Jo snuggled up into his side, wrapping her arms around his waist. _Since when had she been able to reach all the way around?_ Leonard pondered this as he rested his chin on the top of her head.

“Jo, we need to talk.”

 “They kickin’ me off already?”

Her words caught him so off guard that he forgot all about Chekov for a moment. He moved until he could see her face, and the guarded walls in her eyes just about broke his heart. “What? No!” He shook his head, trying to gather all of his thoughts into one place. “Why would you think that?”

 “It’s just that, well, I didn’t grow up on a starship or anythin’, and I reckon it’s kind of dangerous.” Jo pulled away to stand and pace, much like Leonard when he had something on his mind that desperately needed to be said. “I mean, I wasn’t born here, and I certainly don’t have the qualifications. Admiral Pike must have pretty hard to convince, and now the head honchos are takin’ it all back. It’s cool, I mean, I kind of understand _why_ , I just wish they had said no in the first place to save us from all this trouble, and–”

“Joanna, slow down, darlin’, you’re givin’ me a conniption.” Leonard was up in a minute, facing his daughter. Jo had her arms wrapped around her like a security blanket, hugging so tightly, like she was afraid that she’d shatter if she didn’t ground herself in some way.

Leonard was shaking his head, hands outstretched, trying to bring her back from her worry. “Baby, why would you think somethin’ like that?”

“I saw you and Jim on the Bridge – y’all were talkin’ and I thought he had told you that I couldn’t stay. I mean, you looked pretty angry.” She sniffed, not quite on the verge of tears, but Leonard could see that the tears were fast approaching. “Is that why I haven’t seen you all day?”

“Oh, Jo, honey.” He didn’t get much farther before she rushed into his arms, burying her face in his shirt. He rocked her slowly, muttering half-words and reassurances into her ear. “You’re not bein’ kicked off the ship, baby, Jim and I were just havin’ an argument… You don’t need to be so worried… Nothing’s gonna happen to you, I promise… Hey–” he tugged on her hair, bringing her eyes up to meet his. Still no tears – it bothered him that she didn’t cry, but he didn’t want to dwell on that at the moment. “I love you, darlin’,” he said softly. “No one’s gonna take you from me. Nothin’ in any world will ever change that.”

She smiled weakly, reaching up to scrub at her eyes with the back of a wrist. “I love you, too, Daddy.” An extra squeeze around his middle and Jo was stepping back, yawning. “I’m gonna go to bed before I fall over. Don’t stay up too late,” she called over her shoulder before disappearing into the bathroom.

Leonard watched her grow with a fond smile on his face. The smile faded as he remembered his real reason for wanting to talk to Jo in the first place.

He hadn’t even had a chance to mention Chekov, damnit.


	5. Nothing Showing on the Outside

_2267.12, U.S.S. Enterprise_

_January 12, 2267_

 

 

_I looked up from the navigation panels, and there she was. Brown hair that, when certain strands caught the light just right, flashed with hints of auburn. Deep brown eyes that were kind and knowing, regarding me with a certain fondness that I had never seen from another human being, yet they held a certain stern feeling that was most certainly hereditary. Her mouth was curled in a gentle smile, one side higher than the other, endearingly crooked. She reached out a hand to me, beckoning._

_“Come with me,” she said._

_We found ourselves on the observation deck, watching the deep black of space. A meteor whizzed by, casting our faces in a brilliant white light. She turned to me, always smiling._

_“I’ve never felt my age, you know? I’ve always felt older than I am.”_

_“I know what you mean,” I said, reaching up to brush a strand of hair out of her eyes. “I have known the same.”_

_“I suppose being an officer on a Federation starship before your eighteenth birthday would do that,” she said softly, inching closer to me. I could feel the warmth of her body against my skin, even through my uniform and her dress._

_“Yes,” I agreed, “but it is difficult to connect with anyone when you are so young.”_

_“Absolutely.” Her eyes were infinite, stretching on and on, knowing so many things that I had never experienced. She had seen things that I hadn’t, and for all my calculating and science, I would never be wise in the way that she was._

_“In Macon, they say that a man is only truly at home when he is in love, because a house will wear with time, but love can stand for eternity.”_

_I felt my forehead wrinkle. “But if you properly reinforce the structure every few years, the house would remain stable.” Her fingers on my lips brought me to a halt._

_“I don’t think you’re getting the point, Pasha.” The use of my childhood nickname flooded me with warmth and I ghosted a kiss across her fingertips, so soft that I doubt she noticed. “As difficult as you found it to connect with people on this ship when you were younger, the ship became your home because it was where you knew love. You have a family on this ship that will never be replaceable.”_

_“Affection and friendship, yes. Not love. Not like you are meaning.” I saw her eyes shine at me, and I knew that she approved of the direction my thoughts were taking. I had, as she said, “gotten the point.”_

_“What if you found love on the_ Enterprise _?” she asked and I reached up to caress her cheek with my fingers._

_“Then I would not feel alone anymore.”_

_Joanna smiled at me and I felt heady with excitement. I wanted to kiss her; all I had to do was bend my head and capture her mouth._

_Her lips parted. She was about to say something, something that was infinitely more important than anything I had accomplished in the past nine years._

_“Good morning, sir. It is currently oh-eight hundred.”_

_Wait._

_What?_

_Joanna repeated the words, fading as the light from the meteor consumed us. I reached for her, but my fingers fell short, grasping at air. I tried to call out, to pull her back, but my words were blocked. Something was constricting my nose and mouth, pulling tighter as I tried to move towards Joanna._

_The light that filled the room overcame me and I fell to the ground with a crash, my head spinning. I closed my eyes against the light, trying to keep my pupils from exploding from the pain of the light._

When Pavel Chekov opened his eyes, he was lying on the ground, his bed looming over him, the sheets twisted around his body like a large, blue, Pavel-smelling snake. His skin was clammy from the sweat drying in an uncomfortable film. One hand was extended towards the ceiling, reaching for something that had never been real in the first place.

Hikaru was standing in his doorway, one eyebrow raised, dark eyes solemn.

“That’s just sad.”

Pavel refused to look his friend in the eye as he attempted to untwist from the bed sheets holding him captive. “I don’t know what you mean.”

There was a sigh, pained, as though Pavel’s outright lie had somehow pierced straight through to Hikaru’s heart. “You talk in your sleep, you know? Mutter things. I noticed it when we were rooming together, and it hasn’t gotten any better.”

“What are you doing here?” Pavel groused, feeling decidedly out of sorts with his best friend, even if he had just woken up. He could still feel the softness of her skin on his fingertips, and the knowledge that none of it had been real sent an unexpected pang through his chest.

“I came to check on you. You haven’t been yourself lately, and I just wanted to make sure that you were okay. “

“Of course. I am fine.” Pavel finally managed to unwrap the sheets from around his body and threw them onto the bed. His legs were trembling, from the aftereffects of the dream or Hikaru’s gaze, he wasn’t quite sure.

“Fine is unacceptable,” Hikaru stated blandly, still watching Pavel with those unnervingly calm eyes. “I know you haven’t been fine…”

“Just leave it, Hikaru, please.” Pavel’s voice contained a note of uncharacteristically desperate pleading.

The friends were silent for a moment, sizing one another up. Then, Hikaru sighed again and shook his head, looking down at his shoes. Pavel took the moment to disappear into his tiny bathroom, willing his hands to stop shaking.

This was madness. He had dreamt of her every night since meeting her on the Bridge. She was seventeen, the same age he had been when he had first stepped onto the _Enterprise_ , but that had been nine years ago. To even think that she was anywhere near an acceptable—

 _No_. Pavel shook his head violently, brown curls shifting violently with the motions of their owner’s head. It was better not to think of it anymore.

As if reading his thoughts, Hikaru’s voice came drifting in from the bedroom.

 “Remember that conversation we had a few days ago? About it being _really_ dangerous to think about what you were thinking?”

Pavel sighed and moved to the bathroom door, leaning against the frame. “Yes. I am not stupid, Hikaru.”

The young Asian man looked up from where he was sitting on the end of the bed, eyes blazing at the defiance in his friend’s voice. “You’ve been acting pretty stupid the past couple of days. I don’t know where your head’s been at, but it hasn’t been on the Bridge. You need to--”

“Don’t tell me what I need to do, Hikaru. I’m not a child whose hand needs to be held.”

“She’s seventeen, Pavel! And McCoy’s daughter! And you know the Captain’s got some kind of protective watch over her, what with how close he and McCoy are. I know what you’re dreaming about Pavel, I just heard most of your conversation when I came in here.”

“Which I did not ask you to do, as I recall.” Pavel’s voice was as cold as a Russian January. “If you had no better reason to come to my quarters this morning than to tell me off, I would ask you to leave. I need to prepare for my shift.”

“C’mon, Pavel, don’t—”

“Please leave, Lieutenant.”

Hikaru had never heard that tone in Pavel’s voice. He sounded a little like Spock – all cold steel and calm. None of Pavel’s energy or warmth was left in his tone, and Hikaru knew that he had pushed the issue just a little bit too far. This was a rare occurrence – Pavel wouldn’t quite know how to handle an issue, be it work-related or personal, and when anyone with a mind to help stepped in, it could trigger a level of frustration in Pavel that the _Enterprise_ crew didn’t normally associate with the friendly navigator.

With one last sigh, Hikaru turned and exited the room, leaving Pavel to sink onto his bed wearily, head in his hands.

“The less I speak of her, the better. I just need to focus.”

He glanced up at the closed door, almost expecting Hikaru to come bursting back through with a solution. But the door remained shut, and Pavel’s eyes kept traveling to an unremarkable spot on the ceiling.

“Please, God… Make me focus.”

 

 

 “I kept him from asking about Pavel, but I don’t know if he’s given up completely.” Jo was sitting on Nyota’s desk chair, legs crossed, jiggling her foot while she watched the communications officer brush her long, sleek hair. She had just finished recounting the events of last week to Nyota, who had prompted the tale, as she had been remarking on the strained feeling between the Captain and Doctor and navigator over the past week. Jo wasn’t particularly _proud_ of the way she had kept her father’s curiosity at bay, but there was no other solution – she couldn’t have him asking questions that she herself didn’t know the answer to.

Nyota turned to look at the teenager, a look of exasperation on her beautiful face. “That’s terrible, Jo.”

“No, _terrible_ is being grilled by your father. What I did was merely a survival tactic.” Jo wished that she had had someone like Nyota for an older sister. Life in Macon would have been so much more entertaining, not to mention less chaotic, if she had had an older sibling to talk to. And Nyota was so elegant and graceful – all of the kids at school would have envied Jo something terrible, instead of teasing her about her studies and dreams that were bigger than the Georgia sky.

Jo realized that Nyota was speaking and snapped out of her reverie just in time to hear, “—keeping yourself busy, at least, so that you’re not caught up in the middle of all this testosterone.”

“Oh, I am. I’m taking some courses that I’ve downloaded onto my PADD. When we come into a port, I’ll just send them off to my professors. If I keep going at the rate I am, I’ll be at least a junior when I get to school. That way, I won’t fall behind.”

“Behind? Sweetheart, I don’t think that any freshman could possibly dream to keep up with you at this point.”

“That’s the idea. The quicker I get through school, and the higher marks I get, the better chances I have of doing really well in the Academy, and the better chances I have of being stationed on the _Enterprise_.”

Nyota couldn’t help the fond smile that slipped across her lips at Jo’s sudden dreamy tone. “You’re awfully ambitious. You really think crushing on a Starfleet officer is such a good idea?”

“If I enlist, it won’t really make a difference, will it?”  

Nyota stopped brushing her hair and looked sternly at the young woman. “Jo, think about what it could do to his career.”

Jo had to work extra hard at not rolling her eyes. “It’s not like I’m going to be seventeen _forever_. I’ll be legal soon.”

“That’s not what I mean. I mean that Pavel has a life here, and you’ll soon be in California. Even if this wasn’t completely crazy, sweetie, don’t you think that’s a little unfair to the both of you?”

Jo couldn’t deny that Nyota’s logic was sound. It seemed dating a Vulcan had its advantages, after all. _Still_ , Jo thought as she said goodbye to Nyota, who was headed to the Bridge for the Alpha shift while Jo returned to her father’s quarters to study, _still, it’s not like he’d ever take an interest in me. He’s the resident genius, and I ran away from Georgia, safe into my daddy’s arms. I don’t suppose that’s particularly appealing to a guy who saved the Captain and Lieutenant Sulu from being pancakes on Old Vulcan._

She was so wrapped up in her thoughts that she wasn’t paying particularly great attention to where she was going. Suddenly, Jo found herself pressed up against a masculine body that was stuttering out mile-a-minute apologies in an oddly endearing mix of English and Russian.

Jo looked up and found herself staring into eyes of clear green.  “Hi,” she said, not at all breathlessly, because that was just a little too black-and-white movie heroine for her taste, and she was better than that. Still, she had to admit that her heart was pounding in her chest just a little too forcefully to be called normal.

“Hello,” said Pavel, cursing the dive-bombing butterflies in his stomach. All the thoughts in his head disappeared after his greeting and he stood there, staring at Jo with what he hoped was a politely concerned expression.

Jo loved how he was looking at her. She didn’t know quite what to call it, but she had seen a couple look at each other like that once, when she was in Atlanta with a few of her friends, and knew that she wanted to be looked at by a boy like that someday. She managed to extract her hands from their death grip on his arms and step back, smoothing her hair out of her face.

Pavel cursed inwardly. They had been too close, she had been uncomfortable. Hikaru was right, he was being stupid.

 “Space is so quiet,” Jo said suddenly, aware of how loud her breathing sounded in the practically-empty hallway. “I figured there would be a little more commotion on a starship, especially when the mission started, but this is crazy.”

“It livens up after we’ve been out for a few days and the Captain gets bored.” Pavel eyed her with curiosity. “Maybe space is too quiet after such a busy life on Earth?”

Jo chuckled, shaking her head. “Busy? Macon? Nah, space is the perfect kind of quiet. I am kind of excited to see Jim whip up a plan out of midair while you and Sulu fend off Klingons.” She smiled crookedly, just like dream-Jo. “I don’t think I’m supposed to be excited for an attack, though. Maybe small-town life has ruined me.”

“What was your home in Georgia like?” Pavel was genuinely curious. No one could get Doctor McCoy to talk about his home, unless they pumped bourbon straight into his bloodstream. It would be interesting to hear Jo’s point of view.

She loved that he was interested in her hometown. “I’ll tell you if you tell me about Russia.”

Pavel grinned. “Deal.”

_“Attention, all Alpha shift personnel, please report to the Bridge.”_

They both glared at the seemingly-innocent ceiling. Pavel swore he could hear a note of amusement in Lieutenant Uhura’s voice. “I must go, I’m sorry.” How unprofessional of him.

“Yeah, go. No problem.” Jo smiled warmly at him. “It’s a small world. I may see you again.” She turned to go, not entirely sure that she could find her way back to Leonard’s quarters without someone to guide her. She heard Pavel’s footsteps echo away, then footsteps coming towards her. She turned, hoping to ask someone for directions to the CMO’s quarters, but there was Pavel, his face and neck flushed.

“Would you like to come with me to Engineering tomorrow morning? I am helping Scotty with some calculations, and it would be a chance for you to do some exploring.” He said this all very fast, and his accent muddled his words, but Jo was delighted. She beamed, not caring at all about being lost.

“That’d be excellent,” she said, making shooing motions with her hands. “But you’re going to be late! Go!” she laughed and he grinned, racing off down the hallway, calling,

“Nine forty-five! I’ll meet you outside the mess!”

It was another fifteen minutes before Jo managed to find the proper floor and door, and she felt like falling over. Not only was she hurtling through space on the flagship of the Federation, she had a date – kind of – with Pavel! Now, to explain it to Leonard…

She punched in the code and entered the room, just as Leonard was pulling his blue uniform shirt over his head. Father and daughter regarded one another solemnly, as though sizing up an opponent for battle.

Leonard’s eyes narrowed. “Where have you been?”

“Talking to Nyota. Then I got lost.” The half-truth came so easily, Jo hardly had time to feel guilty. After all, she had bumped into Pavel in the hall – it wasn’t like she had tracked him down, or anything.

The doctor grunted. “Don’t wander around too much, ‘kay, Jo? I don’t want us to get into one of Jim’s ‘diplomatic encounters’ and not know where you are.”

Jo giggled at the quoty-fingers. “Sure thing, Dad. Hey, can I go look around Engineering tomorrow?”

“Why?”

“Just so I can familiarize myself with the ship. That way, in case a ‘diplomatic encounter’ occurs, I can find my way back here quickly and without looking like an incompetent idiot. Besides, I like Scotty. He's sweet."

Leonard _hmmed_ , checking his person to make sure he had everything he needed for his shift. Badge, tricorder, hypospray… _Hypospray_. _Shit._ He raised his head, casting a wary eye around for the silver instrument and saw it resting gently in the palm of his daughter’s hand.

Jo grinned at her father’s mumbled thanks. “See you later, Dad,” she said as he passed her, planting a kiss on his cheek as he went. Leonard offered a quick smile before the _hiss_ of the door behind him left Jo completely alone. She sighed and turned to her PADD. _Might as well get some work done._

 

 

Pavel slid into his station with seconds to spare; ignoring the frantic glances Hikaru was shooting his way. He returned the Captain’s greeting and began checking over the ship’s coordinates to make sure that everything was the way it was supposed to be. Without looking up, he grabbed his PADD from his bag and typed a quick message to Hikaru.

 _Recipient_ : Sulu, H., Lt.

 _Sender_ : Chekov, P., Lt.

**I’m sorry I snapped this morning. I didn’t mean to be so rude.**

Hikaru glanced down at his PADD in surprise, clearly not expecting any messages. Checking to make sure that the Captain was still conversing with Yeoman Rand, he sent a quick message back. 

 _Recipient_ : Chekov, P., Lt.

 _Sender_ : Sulu, H., Lt.

**No problem. Now we both know how much of a pain in the ass I can really be.**

Pavel bit his tongue to keep from laughing. He slipped his PADD back into his bag and glanced up at Hikaru. The pilot was staring at some data at his station, but he was smiling.

Returning his eyes to his own station, Pavel let out a slow, quiet breath. Tomorrow, he would be spending his day off with Joanna in Engineering, showing her around the ship that was just as much his pride and joy as it was Kirk’s or Scotty’s. It was just a friendly show of welcome, to help her become accustomed to life on a fully-functional starship. Besides, he knew Scotty had been dying to show her around down on the lower decks. The Scotsman was very fond of Jo’s quick wit and sharp tongue, which she exercised around him often.

Pavel sighed and punched in the coordinates Jim called out to him. He could just be friends with her. It wasn’t impossible. 


	6. Life Flies By in Seconds

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Don't judge my technobabble or lack thereof.

_2267.13, U.S.S. Enterprise_

_January 13, 2267_

Jo woke up the next morning with her stomach in knots, and it took her a minute to figure out why. Once she had, she couldn’t stop the goofy smile that made its way across her face. She let herself linger in bed for a few extra moments, trying to talk down her grin.

“It’s just a trip down to Engineering, Joanna,” she mumbled, staring at the ceiling. “It’s not like he asked to take you to Russia or anything.”

Then she remembered his expressed interest in Georgia, and his promise to teach her about his home, and her stomach did another one of those swoopy things that tickled in a really annoying kind of way. Jo wanted nothing more than to brush the feeling aside and come to her senses, but the clenching in her stomach wasn’t letting her.

“What am I, some kind of cheap, romance-novel bimbo?” she scoffed. “I’m going to Stanford University, for Chrissake. I have more brainpower than over half the inhabitants of Macon.”

Still, Jo couldn’t deny that she liked thinking of the way Pavel’s skin flushed yesterday when he was asking her to come with him. She liked the way his eyes glowed when she had agreed, and the way he had smiled at her before running off to help his ship.

If she was being perfectly honest with herself, she liked just about everything about Lieutenant Pavel Chekov, right down to his cuticles.

 _But that’s ridiculous_ , Jo mused as she finally rolled out of bed and reached towards the ceiling, stretching the muscles in her back. If her mother’s track record with men had been anything to go by, it was impossible to like _everything_ about a guy. There had to be something wrong, whether he constantly talked about himself, like Stan during the fifth grade, or What’s-His-Face during seventh grade (and the early part of the following summer), who sang obnoxiously off-key in the shower. God knew Daniel had his faults, the creep. Even Leonard had to have a fault, somewhere.

Jo stopped stretching, thinking. The more she tried to think of her father’s faults, the more she came up short. There was nothing that jumped out at her, nothing that struck her as well and truly annoying. He could be grumpy, sure, and painfully blunt when it came to handing out advice, but he was the best doctor that Macon – and Starfleet – had seen in a long time, not to mention a decent husband and father until everything had taken the express train to Hell, complete with hand basket.

Sliding out of bed and padding across the room, Jo stuck her head into the main room that separated her bedroom from Leonard’s bedroom and the bathroom. Jim had moved them into these quarters for the time being, still close enough to the sickbay in case of emergency, but big enough for the doctor and his almost-grown daughter. It was just another sign of Jim’s generosity that re-established Jo’s love for the young captain.

Leonard was exactly where she’d thought he’d be – drinking coffee on the couch, reading PADDs and Earth news updates alternately. When Jo had been younger and he had come to claim her for a weekend, she would often wake up to the exact same sight, sometimes with different materials – once, he had been reviewing a piece that he had written for a medical journal, only cementing Jo’s belief that her father was the most brilliant man she had ever known. “It’s all printed and pretty, Jojo,” he had said, “but that doesn’t mean I’m not human. There’s always room for improvement.”

“Hey, Dad.”

“Morning, kiddo,” Leonard said, glancing up to smile warmly at his daughter. “Sleep okay?”

“No complaints.”

“Good.”

Jo stood in the doorway, watching her father for anything that would be a complete deal breaker. He wasn’t a bad looking guy, and had had the decency to pass those genes onto her. He was all Southern hospitality and manners, except when Jim really pissed him off – then he was all Southern temper and grump-ass. Leonard McCoy was an honorable man, a reliable man, a man Starfleet had wanted. Could it be possible, then, that Pavel was from the same mold?

“Dad?”

“Yes, Joanna banana?”

She grimaced at the nickname, but let it slide – for now. “Would you say that you have any serious character flaws?”

“Of course not. I’m Jesus.”

“Oh, puh-lease.”

That earned her an amused grin and a raised eyebrow. “Why do you ask?”

“Oh, you know… Healthy curiosity and whatnot.”

Leonard regarded Jo with the stare that all doctors have perfected over years and years of practice. The one that goes right past the stuttered, “I’m fine,” through the “Yeah, I eat right,” and straight to the “Actually, I haven’t been outside for more than ten minutes in the past three weeks.” It was the look that could diagnose anything, from a hangnail to lung cancer. It was the look that Jo could not replicate, despite the number of hours that she spent practicing in the bathroom mirror (a fact that she would never, not even under pain of death, admit to.) Fatherly intuition only strengthened his gaze.

After a long moment, Jo was contemplating cutting her losses and backing down when Leonard sighed and returned to his coffee, shrugging one shoulder as he said,

“I don’t know, Jojo; I guess I’ve got a lot to pick from.” His voice was light and playful, while still being as honest as possible to the only person to whom he had never told a lie.

“ _Dad._ ”

“I’m serious,  Joanna. Let’s just say, on the safe side, that I’m generally a bad person.”

Jo had to smile at that. “If you’re a bad person, that makes me a bad person, too, so we can be bad people together,” she said.  

Leonard laughed at her confidence. “Fair enough. Hungry?”

“Computer, time?”

“It is currently oh nine thirty, miss.”

“Damn.” With an apologetic grin, Jo planted a quick kiss on her father’s cheek. “Thanks but no thanks, Dad. I think I’m going to try and find my own way down to Engineering and see if Scotty will teach me about the plasma reactor.”

Leonard tried his best to cover up his snort with a cough, fooling no one. “So, does this mean you’re going to be an engineer now?” 

“I never said _that_. This is merely an excursion to help me get acquainted with the ship, remember?”

“Ah.” Leonard took another sip of coffee, making a note on one PADD with information from another. “Don’t get in the way.”

Jo gasped dramatically, sounding more injured than was truthful. “I am the most _unobtrusive_ person you’ve ever known.” She raised an eyebrow at Leonard’s outright laughter. “ _What?_ ”

“Your belongings have begun a slow but steady crawl to every spare inch of these quarters, Miss Unobtrusive.” He watched Jo rush around for her shoes and her bag, raising an eyebrow as she took an extra minute to check her reflection in the window that was their constant reminder that they were in deep space. “What aren’t you tellin’ me, here?”  

A glance at the chronometer told Jo that she’d have exactly five minutes to get to the mess before Pavel got there. She pressed another kiss on her father’s cheek and whisked out the door, calling over her shoulder, “Love you, bye!”

 

 

“I don’t believe it,” Jo muttered, finding herself staring at the lift door for what felt like the umpteenth time. “It’s a _starship_. There aren’t that many places to go. How is it that I get lost on the way to the frickin’ _mess_?”

What was even more amazing was the fact that no one – and she meant no sign of sentient life whatsoever, thank you very much – had been in the hallways to direct her down the right path. It was amazing how deserted the _Enterprise’s_ corridors could be when Jim wasn’t putting them all in mortal peril. Jo had thought that telling the turbo lift where she wanted to go would have been enough, but _no_. They had to build these things like mazes, and Jo _hated_ mazes. Ever since the Corn Maze Incident of her sixth birthday, she avoided them like Andorian Shingles.

She was thinking of heading up to the Bridge and pleading with Jim for assistance when she heard footsteps. Jo breathed a sigh of relief. She wouldn’t die slumped against a stark white wall, writing a last letter to her father in her own blood (blame the dramatics on Jocelyn, thanks very much.) Pavel would never need to know that she couldn’t find her way around the dang ship to save her life.

“Joanna!”

 _Of course._ She tried to wipe the grimace off of her face as she turned and was met with an eyeful of everyone’s favorite Russian. “You know, I _was_ going to meet you, I promise.”

His laugh filled the hallway, and Jo felt like she had just drank something very hot, very quickly. His green eyes sparkled at her as he offered his right arm. “I believe you. Hikaru told me that you were wandering around the ship, and I surmised that you must have gotten turned around between your quarters and the mess hall.”

“You surmised correctly.” Jo froze for a moment, Pavel’s words filtering through her brain. “What do you mean, Lieutenant Sulu saw me? I haven’t seen anyone for the past twenty minutes.”

If Jo didn’t know any better, she’d swear Pavel looked guilty. “We saw you on the security cameras,” he mumbled, not meeting her eyes. “I came down to rescue you before something embarrassing happened.” He looked up, apology written in every laugh line on his face. “I’m guessing, by your demeanor, that I was unsuccessful?”

Jo was trying hard not to hyperventilate. If she had a break down now, in the middle of the hall, they would call the doctor. Despite the McCoy blood rushing through her veins (and, presently, in her ears), Jo didn’t think she could take her father fussing over her while Jim – who probably knew about her hopeless wandering, no less – hovered, trying not to crack too many snide comments, on top of Pavel knowing about her useless sense of direction. Let it be noted that being a teenager was hard-fucking-work. She was dimly aware of Pavel’s eyes still on her, and she cracked a weak smile.

“Peachy.”

Pavel let out a soft laugh, and the knots in her stomach did somersaults. “Do not worry,” he said, pulling her along with him into the lift. “I will not let Hikaru taunt you too much.”

“Oh, gee, thanks.” Jo grimaced. “Y’all are lucky a grew up with an overbearing Southern mother; nothin’ affects me like she could.”  

He laughed harder at that, punching a button on the control panel that had the lift whirring to life in milliseconds. “You are the daughter of Doctor McCoy… I believe you are stronger than anything we could tease you about,” he added softly, ducking his head to peek at Jo from under long, long (holy, frickin’ cow, _long!_ ) lashes.

Jo couldn’t think of a response, so she just let herself smile bashfully for a moment while trying not to lean into Pavel’s body heat too much. He was tall enough that if she wanted to – and she _really_ wanted to – she could rest her head on his shoulder and turn her face just enough to press it into his neck. This thought was quickly tampered down by a voice that sounded, strangely enough, like Commander Spock.

_Bad idea, bad idea… Could backfire with disastrous consequences._

_Yes, thank you,_ Jo mentally scolded her favorite First Officer. _I don’t need to be even half-Vulcan to know that kissing his neck would be a very bad idea. Green-blooded hobgoblin._

The lift eased to a stop with a slight whine and the skin between Pavel’s eyebrows furrowed as he looked up at the ceiling. “I should speak to someone about fixing that,” he muttered, more to himself than anything and Jo suppressed a grin.

“I’m not sure Lieutenant Uhura would be enthusiastic about fixing the turbo lift, to be perfectly honest.”

Pavel’s confusion was palpable. “What?”

“You said you would speak to _someone_ about fixing the lift. I don’t think just _anyone_ could fix it.”

“Of course not.”

Jo smirked. “Well, then, maybe you should talk to _maintenance,_ instead of just _someone_.”

He studied her for a moment, as though trying to judge whether or not she was being serious. The sparkle in her brown eyes told him she was joking, and he grinned, shaking his head.

“You are like your father, so particular with words.”

“It’s a curse, I promise you.” Jo caught sight of the fuel cells and her face fell. “Seriously? It takes me _for-EV-er_ to find the mess hall, and you manage to get us down here in five seconds by pressing a button?” She turned to Pavel, disbelief and awe spread across her face like freckles. “You’re a Jedi master.”

Pavel found himself smiling broadly, something he hadn’t stopped doing since he had seen Joanna on the security cameras earlier that morning. “I’m a _what_?”

She blinked. “You’ve never seen _Star Wars?_ Quite possibly the greatest sci-fi film series of the twentieth century?” At Pavel’s blank expression, Jo sighed. “Oh, we’re going to have to fix that. I don’t know that I can be around you if I can’t quote _Star Wars_.”

“I suppose you aren’t the droid Pavel was lookin’ for, then?” Montgomery Scott sidled up behind Jo, wrapping her in a bear hug. Jo laughed, twisting out of the engineer’s hold to throw her arms around his neck. Pavel watched with a faint smile, a brief stab of jealousy stabbing through his gut at the happiness in Jo’s face. He didn’t like not understanding, and he especially didn’t like that another man knew how to make Jo laugh. He knew it was ridiculous – Scotty was a _much_ older man, and didn’t harbor any of the same feelings that Pavel held for Jo – but he couldn’t help shooting a glare at the engineer when Scotty held Jo too long for Pavel’s liking.

Unaware that he was on the receiving end of a Russian death-glare, Scotty set Jo down and gestured to the enormous, shiny machines that made up most of the Engineering main. “What do ye think of me ship?”

Jo laughed again, face flushed prettily. “It’s amazing! There’s so much going on down here!”

“She’s a well-oiled machine, my baby is. Nothin’ goes on down here without my knowin’ about it. In fact, I’d say that I have a sixth sense when it comes to this ship and all that she does. I’m well-tuned to everything and anything that goes on–”

“Mr. Scott, is that red light supposed to be flashing?”

Pavel cursed in Russian and pushed Jo behind him. “Joanna, go back to the lift and return to the upper deck, please.”

“What? Why?”

“Scotty, did you oversee that recalibration on the plasma valves?”

_BOOM._

“Oh, Christ.”

Pavel turned at Scotty’s curse in time to see a puff of thick, black smoke emitting from an unseen control panel. He looked at the Scot, who was inching towards the panel with trepidation. “Do you think it was one of the valves?”

“Maybe. Could be a blown fuse.”

“Wait.” Jo reached out for Pavel’s arms, fingertips catching the fabric of his uniform. “Ships can blow a fuse?”

“In a way,” Scotty conceded, unsure how else to explain the problem in a way that a seventeen-year-old girl could understand. Jo was just as intelligent as her father, but Leonard had as much tolerance for the ship’s inner workings as he did for all of Commander’s Spock’s talk of pure logic. Scotty had a feeling that his daughter would be the same way.

“So, this blown fuse is bad, right?”

The three of them had slowly crept up on the smoking panel, the two Starfleet officers calculating possible problems under their breath while Jo looked on. Scotty was reaching for the release valves, ready to take a look at the problem, when there was a loud screech and several bright, white-hot sparks shot from the paneling. Jo shrieked and was propelled backwards as Pavel thrust out his arm to keep the sparks from burning her skin. She lost her footing and felt herself falling backwards, unable to hold onto anything to keep her balance. She felt rather than heard footsteps running towards the trio, but lost all sense of anything as the back of her head struck the floor and everything went dark.

“Honestly, Len, I had no idea it would happen. Those panels were supposed to be up-to-date–”

“The ‘supposed to be’ doesn’t make me real happy, Commander.”

"An ensign just made a mistake, and don't start in on that 'Commander' bullshit, _Doctor_. It's just a little bump."

“A bump that very well could have been a concussion. And these burns are gonna hurt like hell as they heal, kid.”

“It is a small price to pay, Doctor.”

The way Pavel’s accent fell hard on the consonants in her father’s title had Jo smiling, and she was blinking awake to a sterile, white room. Turning her head to the left, she could see Pavel sitting shirtless on a biobed, angry red welts covering his upper body. He winced as Leonard began dabbing some kind of white ointment on some of the larger burns, looking up from his knees to tightly shut his eyes. His entire body tensed against the pain, but no sound escaped past his lips minus a small hiss now and again. Jo took a moment to admire the miles of golden, deceptively muscled skin.

Pavel’s green eyes opened and met Jo’s from across the room. The smile that spread across his face filled her with warmth, and she couldn’t help but smile back. Jo saw her father’s head go up, imagined his eyes seeing Pavel’s expression, and sure enough, there he was – Leonard McCoy, M.D. and pissed-off father. He handed the cream to Nurse Chapel and made his way to Jo, shaking his head as he went. Jo smiled up at him, knowing better than to move without permission.

 “Hi, Daddy.”

The cocked eyebrow didn’t bode well. “Unobtrusive?”

“I did nothing except walk into the room,” Jo pouted, ignoring Pavel’s smile and Scotty’s deep chuckle. Leonard smirked mirthlessly and bent down to peer into her brown eyes, mirrors of his own, looking for any signs of a concussion. The unspoken “I told you so” hung in the air like a foul stench after the passing of a garbage hovertruck. Jo glared up at her father as best she could, trying – and failing – to look put out. “Smug is not your color, old man. You should try concern or nurturing on for size.”

A genuine smile flitted across Leonard’s lips, but it was soon replaced with his customary scowl. “Smug is so comfortable, Joanna, and it goes well with ‘I told you so.’” There, he had said it. Score one point for Dad. He lifted her gently off her back to a sitting position on the bed, checking for any signs of dizziness. “How ‘bout you be a spectator from now on, okay?”

“Yes, sir,” Jo said sheepishly. Leonard let out a grunt and walked back over to Pavel, muttering under his breath the whole way.

Pavel caught Jo’s eye and discreetly mouthed, “ _I am so sorry,”_ over Leonard’s shoulder. Jo just shrugged her shoulders and tried not to smile too widely.

 Scotty’s eyes watched them with shrewd and calculating understanding.


	7. Do You Remember?

_2267.14-2267.79, U.S.S. Enterprise_

_January-March, 2267_

 

After the busted transformer, Jo kept true to her word about just watching. She didn’t have a choice. Scotty had heard Leonard’s admonishment and was bound and determined not to get on the good doctor’s wrong side again. He would allow Jo onto the Engineering deck, but only into his office. At first, Jo thought that maybe there would be something going on in the office that she could watch, or help with, but only Scotty used the space, and he was often absent. Jo continued to come to the Engineering deck, in the hopes that she would see Pavel, but there was never any sign of him. For two weeks, Jo came and sat in Scotty’s office, read five books on her PADD, and saw no one but the head of Engineering.

As January drifted into February, Jo gave up. Hide nor hair of a guy in over two weeks was never a good thing, certainly not in a confined space like the Enterprise. Yes, it was a starship, and yes, it was the largest in the fleet, but it was still a hunk of metal floating in space. (Jo resolved never to tell this view of the ship to either Scotty or Pavel, if she ever saw him again. Or Jim, for that matter.)

Basically, there weren’t many places for a man to hide.

Jo resigned herself to working on her classes for Stanford. She solved calculus with Trina, a mathematician from the Gamma quadrant who knew everything about everybody, and had no problem letting Jo in on the gossip. She practiced her French, Andorian, Vulcan – and Russian – with Nyota, who felt more like an older sister than an officer. Jim read every book she had for her classes, quizzing her about Dante’s Inferno or about the dates in her Orion through the Ages textbook whenever he felt so inclined. She practiced Vulcan at Commander Spock, and got a few amused looks out of him when her Georgia accent interfered with the flow of the ancient language.

To no one’s surprise, she enjoyed biology the most. In those study sessions, Leonard would take over and let her practice the most basic of medicines (on simulated patients, of course) under his careful watch. Jo became his shadow in these lessons, following at his heels, her dark eyes taking in every moment, her ears tuned to his every word. The nurses in the med bay stayed out of the doctor’s way, watching out of the corner of their eyes, trying not to let their smiles show.

Joanna was a perfect, female miniature of her father, right down to the warm, understanding eyes, the deft fingers, and the slight tilt to her head when she listened to a problem. Jo had his crooked grin, and when she unleashed it, the crew saw the formidable Doctor McCoy smile more than they had ever seen before.

Jo developed a comfortable routine on the Enterprise. She was vivacious, curious, and eager to please, so much so that Jim started calling her his clone. Within a couple of weeks, Jo was as good as a member of the ship’s crew, with the added bonus of not having to wear a uniform.

It still rankled her, even in mid-February – practically a month past “the Incident” – that she hadn’t seen Pavel for more than the time to exchange a simple greeting. At first, she chalked his absence up to being busy, what with being Starfleet’s flagship genius and whatnot, but there were days that no one, not even her father – the man who loved paperwork like it was his second-born – had much to do, and Jo grew suspicious. Granted, the quick “hellos” were better than avoiding her completely, but Joanna Leigh McCoy was not a woman (and she used that term loosely, for her father’s sake) to be ignored.

At first, she tried to catch Pavel on the Bridge, pretending to talk to Jim, or Nyota, or, in a fit of desperation, Spock, but that just ended up with her underfoot and in trouble with Leonard. Next, she tried ignoring him so completely whenever they did happen to bump into one another that he had no choice but to realize that she was angry, but that didn’t work, either. All he had to do was flash her that annoying (charming) smile and utter his quiet, “Hello,” and she was gone. He flustered her in a way that no guy had ever done before, and that made her only more frustrated.

Leonard didn’t understand why snarky, bubbly Jo faded into moody Jo over the course of a few weeks. He was glad that she had concentrated her efforts on her studies, and that she was getting better at not getting in the way, but it unnerved him to have a quiet Jo.

Against his better judgment, he brought his fears up to Jim while watching the captain and Spock play chess.

“I think Jo’s getting bored with being on the ship,” he said after Spock made a particularly good move that had Jim swearing and looking for an escape route.  

Jim’s eyes didn’t leave the chessboard, but he did raise an eyebrow to acknowledge Leonard’s statement. “I don’t know how she can be bored – she’s certainly got enough going on with her classes and stuff.” He grinned triumphantly and captured one of Spock’s bishops with his knight, only to groan loudly when Spock moved his rook to take the knight.

“Perhaps she requires more physical stimuli, Doctor,” Spock suggested in that creepy, quiet way he had, ignoring Jim’s muttering. “I understand Joanna was quite active back on Earth.”

“She liked soccer and runnin’ around outside, that’s for sure. My daughter definitely wasn’t a dolls and tea parties kind of girl. Pissed Jocelyn off somethin’ awful.” He grinned as Jim chuckled, breaking concentration for a moment.

“Precisely,” Spock agreed. “Physical exercise, along with the already impressive academic work she has achieved thus far will provide a well-rounded existence aboard the ship that should alleviate any suspected boredom.”

Leonard raised an eyebrow at the captain, who merely grinned. “He certainly has a way with words.”

“No kiddin’,” Len grunted. “So, what should I do? Assign her laps and push-ups every mornin’? She’d kill me.”

“What about Sulu?” Jim asked, sighing and looking up from the board.

“What about Sulu?”

“Well, he’s a fencing whiz, and I hear he’s always game for private lessons. I doubt he’d mind giving Jo a few – he likes that she calls him a ninja.”

“Yeah, I’ve heard.” Len tilted back in his chair, grimacing at the ceiling. “Fencing lessons? I dunno, Jim, it seems like that’d be a bad parenting move.”

“It’d be worse for her to go stir-crazy up here, and never want to speak to you again because you had the opportunity for her to learn something really cool, and you passed it up to be a “responsible” parent, which, honestly, isn’t always the same as a “good” parent. Trust me. I’ve never been a parent, thank God, but my mother was a gem.” Jim got up, stretched, and walked to his desk to pour himself and Len a glass of whiskey. “Besides, maybe losing a limb would be good for her.” He turned to meet his CMO’s angry glare and grinned. “Sorry. Kidding.”

“Not funny.”

“Kidding, Bones. Jesus.” Jim glared at the chess board for a moment before reaching forward and nudging his king with his index finger, toppling the piece. “I forfeit, Mr. Spock.”

“Well played, Captain,” the Vulcan murmured and Jim laughed boisterously.

“I didn’t have a choice!” He turned to Len, piercing the doctor with an icy-blue stare. “Let Jo take fencing lessons with Sulu. She’ll enjoy it, and you’ll get your less-grumpy daughter back. She’s getting more and more like you every day, which I’m not entirely sure is a good thing.”  

The doctor surveyed his best friend. “I hope you’re right about this.”

Jim avoided his First Officer’s eye. “Bones, when am I ever wrong?”

 

 

Pavel was cleaning his room when the door opened and Hikaru peeked in. He was dressed in his fencing garb, which was nothing out of the ordinary. His somber demeanor, on the other hand, was not common, and Pavel stopped organizing his desk long enough to look up at his friend.

“What, Hikaru?”

The pilot chewed his lip for a few seconds, looking uncertain. Finally, he leaned against the door post and said, “You might be interested to know that Jo’s taking private lessons from me.”

Pavel desperately tried to ignore the way his heart started to race at the mention of Joanna McCoy. “That’s nice. She will be very fortunate to have you as a teacher.”

“Pavel, you gotta stop this. I could tell that she was trying not to ask me anything about you, because she’s a smart, focused kid and she knows how to remain professional. She wants to see you, buddy.”

Going back to his desk, Pavel avoided Hikaru’s eye. “I have been busy.”

Hikaru snorted. “Cleaning your room four times in as many weeks does not count as busy. I haven’t known you to clean in here more than once every six months if there’s no inspection scheduled since…ever.”

“I put her in danger!” Pavel snarled, whirling to face his friend. “Everyone looked at me like they wanted me in the brig. I wanted to put myself there, Hikaru, but Captain Kirk would not allow it. Now I stay here, where I cannot cause her anymore harm.”

“I think if she’s willing to take up fencing, she’s not too badly injured,” Hikaru said gently. Pavel eyed him, unsure. Trying not to laugh, Hikaru hitched his fencing bag higher on his shoulder and turned to go. “Look, just suck it up and go talk to her, all right? She’s pretty brilliant, but she’s also female, and they’re weird about stuff like this. She’d rather talk to you than this weird, say-hello-and-disappear thing you’ve been pulling.” At Pavel’s questioning look, Hikaru shrugged. “Hey, you’re not as smooth as you’d like to think. I’ve noticed it, too.”

Pavel wrung his hands, thinking quietly. Something occurred to him and he glared at Hikaru suspiciously. “I thought you said this was a bad idea?” he asked.

Trying not to roll his eyes, Hikaru turned to go. “That was before your moping got on my nerves.”

“I do not mope,” Pavel mumbled. He could feel his face begin to turn red. “I had important things to do.”

Turning, Hikaru took another look around the immaculate room. He grinned at the young navigator. “Bullshit.”

 

 

Jo was in the botany lab, working on yet another round of calculus homework when the door whirred quietly open and shut. Assuming it was Lieutenant Sulu coming in to check on his precious plants, Jo called, “Let me know if I’m in your way and I’ll get out of here. I just needed some place quiet to study while Daddy shouts at some sick Ensigns. You know, standard stuff…” She trailed off. That definitely wasn’t Hikaru standing there, looking at her with warm green eyes and an apologetic expression on his face.

Jo and Pavel stared at each other for a few minutes before Jo looked down, hot tears pricking at the corners of her eyes. She hated crying in front of people, and here was the guy she wanted least of all to see her cry.

“Joanna,” he said quietly, and she sniffed. Feelings of anger and utter ridiculousness swept over her in waves.

Suddenly, he was right there, taking her hands in both of his, soothing her in that delicious accent. “Do not be upset, Joanna. You have nothing to be upset about. I was very rude to you, and I am sorry. There is no proper explanation for my actions.” Slipping a finger under his chin, he coaxed her eyes up to meet his. “I understand if you are angry with me. I deserve your anger.” He smiled as she rolled her eyes. “I deserve that.” His eyes grew serious, looking past her tears and pain, deep into her soul. “I am very fond of you, Joanna. Almost too fond. I think it would be beneficial if we were friends, but you understand that anymore than that would be unwise, yes?”  

Jo’s breath ached in her throat, but she nodded. She had such a weak spot for nerdy Starfleet navigators with piercing green eyes, unruly brown hair, and a crooked grin. If he said they could be friends, then they could be friends. No big deal.

Right.

Wiping away any stray tears, she turned back to her homework. She didn’t have to look to know that Pavel was still watching her, or to see him step up next to her. She tried not to fidget as she studied equations.

“Calculus,” Pavel observed quietly. “Very advanced calculus.”

“It’s not nuclear physics or anythin’,” Jo grumbled. “I don’t have the patience for it.”

“You could, though,” Pavel said gently. “You’re very intelligent.”

Jo smiled wryly. “I do all right.” She took a chance to look up at Pavel. He was watching her with a fond grin. “Pull up a seat, Lieutenant,” she drawled. “This might take me a while.”  

“Maybe I could help you?” Pavel offered as he took the seat next to hers. Jo cocked an eyebrow in a signature McCoy move.

“If it’s not too much trouble,” Jo said mulishly. “I mean, you’ve been awfully busy these past few weeks.”

If Jo lived forever, she’d never forget Pavel’s shamefaced expression. While she didn’t take pleasure in other people’s humiliation, Jo still felt a small amount of satisfaction when he inched his chair closer and examined her work. “Never again,” he said, too quietly for Jo to hear.

 

 

Her momma used to say that Jo was too trusting. She was willing to believe anything her daddy told her, if it only meant that she got to see him for a day. Jo would sit out on the front porch all morning if Leonard said that he’d be there that afternoon to pick her up and take her to Atlanta while he was on leave. When Leonard said he’d call, Jo would lounge by the communicator all day in anticipation. Jocelyn could never understand why Jo trusted a man who had up and left her for Starfleet.

What the bitter divorcée could never see was that Jo’s trust was well-placed. She knew that she could trust her daddy to pick her up because he never failed her. If Leonard said he’d be there that afternoon, by God, he’d be there. In 13 years, Jo had never been left waiting. She knew how to trust because she had been taught well by the one man who had ever really mattered in her life.

Looking at Pavel, Jo knew she’d made the right decision. He wasn’t anything like her father – where Leonard was grouchy, blunt, and outright impatient, Pavel was polite, diplomatic, and kind. The two men were as different as, well, America and Russia.

However, there were similarities that Jo couldn’t help but notice.

Both men drank tea – Leonard preferred good, old-fashioned sweet iced tea, while Pavel drank hot, strong black tea constantly.

Both were extremely dedicated to their jobs – Leonard’s bedside manner might have been deplorable, but he was an attentive and skilled physician. Pavel could be found working vigorously in the lab until he only had enough time for a brief nap before the Alpha shift.

Most importantly of all, both men had never lied to her. Leonard might have been a wreck as a husband, but he was an excellent father, and he prided himself on that fact. He had never hidden anything from Joanna, even when it cast him in an unfriendly light. She was the bright light in his dark universe. Losing that was never an option.

Likewise, Pavel never lied to her about anything, even if he thought it might bore her to tears. If information aboard the ship was classified, he simply didn’t bring it up and Jo didn’t pry. He had plenty of other things to talk about; getting him to stop was the hard thing. Jo could listen for hours as Pavel chattered on about Russia and his village, Izhevsk. His father was always a hot topic, and the villagers, but Pavel spoke very rarely of his mother. Jo didn’t mind; she never once mentioned Jocelyn, and Pavel never asked.

In exchange for information about Russia, Jo told Pavel about Georgia. She described the Johnson-Felton-Hay House, where she could study the Italian Renaissance Revival architecture without any disturbance from other museum-goers. She told him about St. Joseph’s Church, and how she liked to imagine her parents being married there. She told him about the time she accidentally kicked a soccer ball through the front window of Mrs. Hampstead, a seventy-something widow with too many cats and a fierce hatred of all children.  

For the rest of February and into early March, Jo slaved away on her basic education credits for Stanford while Pavel discussed nuclear physics with Scotty and astrological readings with Sulu. She managed to stay just under her father’s radar, studying quietly in one place or another while Leonard combated yet another round of Jim Kirk’s infamous allergies. Jo read Chaucer while Jim dodged hyposprays. She worked on calculus while her father muttered about strawberries and foreign plant pollens. She even managed to be pretty handy with the halls on the Enterprise, able to make her way back to the McCoy quarters fifteen minutes before Leonard came stomping in, hyposprays clutched tightly in both hands.

While the quiet weeks of deception made Jo uneasy, she was even more acutely aware of what her father would say to her spending all of her time with the youngest navigator in Starfleet’s history, who was still eight years her senior. The argument of “just friends” wouldn’t get far with Leonard McCoy. It was better for everyone if her friendship with Lieutenant Chekov remained quiet and subtle.

Of course, on the U.S.S. Enterprise, that was like asking for Captain Kirk to take easy missions or for Commander Spock to smile. Highly illogical.

A week before her eighteenth birthday, it happened. She came back from studying French with Lieutenant Uhura to find a seething Leonard McCoy pacing a hole into the floor of their front room. Jo froze as her father looked up; she knew from the minute his eyes met hers that she was busted like Mrs. Hampstead’s window.

“Daddy, I—”

“Where. Have you. Been?”

Jo gulped.  She knew as well as Leonard did that he wasn’t referring to the past few hours. “Engineering.”

If looks could kill, Jo would have been so, so dead. “After I explicitly told you to stay out of the way?”

“I’ve been out of the way.” Jo put down her bag, moving inside far enough so the door closed behind her. There was no reason for the entire ship to know what would be spreading around like wildfire in a few days anyway. “I’ve been studyin’.”

“With Scotty?”

So, so, so dead. “He was around.”

“But he’s not the one who’s been helpin’ you.”

“No, sir.”

Leonard shook his head. “Nope. Not even good Southern manners will get you out of this one, Joanna. I told you to stay out of Engineering and leave Chekov alone—”

“You did not!”

“Not in so many words, Joanna, but it was expected that you knew what I meant!” A vein throbbed in Leonard’s left temple; Jo had never seen that before in any argument with her father. He only ever got this angry with Jocelyn, and only in really special fights. “I can’t have you goin’ all over this ship with that boy while people talk—”

“And say what, Daddy? That I’m just askin’ for trouble with Pavel? He’s not a bad guy, he’s actually been able to help me on some of my assignments.”

“That’s beside the point, Joanna.” Leonard blew out the breath he had been holding since hearing one of the communications ensigns telling one of his nurses about Chekov and Jo looking chummy in the botany lab. “You’re sneakin’ around where I don’t know what you’re doing. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were actin’ just like your mother.”

Jo looked wounded, and with good reason. It was a low blow. “Daddy.”

The mere mention of his ex-wife put Leonard into such a foul temper that his next words were completely irrational. “Why’d you come up here, huh? She send you?” The hurt and anger on Jo’s face only spurred him on. “Tell me the truth, Joanna Leigh.”

Her lip quivered, but not a tear was shed. “You weren’t there! You didn’t see…didn’t hear…” Hands balled into fists, Jo shrugged helplessly. “I’m happy up here, Daddy. I’m happy when I’m around him.”

Leonard snorted. “You don’t know about what makes you happy,” he scoffed.  

“That’s awfully hypocritical, Daddy. All you ever told me was that I had to be myself and I’d be happy.”

“But not with him!”

Jo’s face was just as red as her father’s. “Why not? He’s just as good as any, if not better.”

“I said no, Joanna. End of discussion.” Leonard turned away; he was more than ready to disappear into his room with a glass of bourbon and a hot shower.

Jo wasn’t ready to give up so easily. “Is it because he’s younger than the rest of you? Shouldn’t you be glad that I’m friends with someone who doesn’t let anyone stop him from achieving his goals?”

Leonard faced his daughter, anger still bubbling under his skin. “Jo, nobody over the age of eighteen is friends with a seventeen-year-old without wanting something. You’re being naïve.”

“If I’m naïve, you’re a lunatic and a bully.” Jo pushed past him to get to her room. “Just because you got gypped by Momma and had no other option but to hide up in here in space with your hyposprays and your machines doesn’t mean that I’m destined to be cheated out of a perfectly good life. You know,” she turned to face a speechless Leonard, eyes glinting with tears, “I was on your side. I might have been young, but I knew about Momma’s indiscretions and the way she was absolutely horrible to you. I knew that I never wanted to not be on your side, because you would always be on mine. It’s always been you and me, Dad. We’re twin souls. But if you forbid me from seeing Pavel, I swear the next few months on this ship will be living hell for the both of us.” She sniffed and disappeared into her room.

Leonard was left standing, numb. With a sorrowful look at his daughter’s door, he picked up his communicator and slipped out of their quarters.

 


	8. Can't Keep Letting it Get You Down

_2267.79, U.S.S. Enterprise_

_March 20, 2267_

 

 “Daughters are trouble, Jim,” Leonard mumbled when Jim opened the door to find his CMO leaning against the door frame, well on his way to getting alcohol poisoning. The good doctor pushed past him and Jim deftly snatched the half-empty bourbon bottle that threatened to slip out of Leonard’s fingers. He watched the doctor stumble over to his couch and flop down gracelessly, not even bothering to raise an eyebrow in greeting to Spock. 

Jim and his first officer exchanged knowing glances as the door slid shut.  “Bones, did you and Jo have a fight?”

“Damn right we did. Knockdown, drag out, good and proper.  Don’t let anyone tell you that McCoys don’t do things proper.”  Leonard squinted at his empty fist, then the bottle in Jim’s hand.  “Did you take my bourbon?”

Jim snorted and hid the bourbon behind a chair.  “Yeah, but focus: are you telling me that you and your seventeen-year-old daughter had a fight and you’re here, halfway drunk?”

“They ain’t givin’ me the parent of the year award, that’s for damn sure.”  Leonard mumbled, dropping his head into his hands.  “She knows she not s’posed to be down there, and I’m almost positive that’s where she was… Can’t lie to me…”

Jim sighed and crossed his arms.  “Alright, Bones, start from the beginning, and don’t leave out any of the gory details.”

The CMO looked blearily up at his captain and sighed.  In a controlled monotone, he explained Jo’s growing fascination with Engineering, specifically one Pavel Chekov.  He explained how he had been hearing rumors (Jim wisely didn’t add that he had been hearing the same, and then some) and when Bones confronted Jo, he made the mistake of comparing her to Jocelyn.

“Smooth, Bones,” Jim said, rolling his eyes.  “We really need to send you to another communication seminar.”

“None of this would have happened if you hadn’t suggested that I let her get fencing lessons from Sulu,” Leonard growled, “and if I wasn’t such an overbearing bastard,” he muttered pitifully.”

An uncomfortable silence filled the room, until Jim broke the silence by clearing his throat.

“Let me get this straight,” Jim stood with his hands propped on his hips, thoughtfully considering the miserable man in front of him, “you yelled at her for doing something which you aren’t actually sure she was doing?” Leonard grunted half-heartedly, which Jim took for a yes. “And you just think that she was spending time with Chekov, not actually doing so?”

“I know she was!”  Leonard protested.  “I know how her brain works. S’same way mine did when I was datin’ her mother,” he finished lamely.  Jim tried to keep the amusement off his face.

“You’re such a hypocrite, Bones.”

“How?” The CMO squinted up at his friend, panic obvious in his eyes. “She’s my only kid, Jim.  Why shouldn’t I want her to keep from making my mistakes?”

“I never said she was,” Jim assured his friend, pulling his desk chair over and facing Bones. “She’s allowed to make her own mistakes, Bones.  That’s how we all learn.”

Leonard shook his head.  “You don’t get it; I got Jocelyn pregnant right after our undergrad.  Lucky for us that her parents were willing to help out, but it was stupid and irresponsible of me.  I can’t have that happening to Joanna.”

“Who said it will?” Jim demanded.  “Jo’s a hell of a lot smarter than Jocelyn, and I don’t think Joanna’s trying to rope someone into marriage through a pregnancy,” Jim added in an undertone.  Leonard’s derisive snort told Jim that he was on the right track.  “Okay, well, then,” Jim continued, “I really don’t think you have much to worry about with Jo, other than the fact that you might have scarred her for life with this whole overbearing-dad thing.”

Leonard cradled his head in his hands again, as if Jim’s words were weighing him down and he needed propping up to process them properly.  Spock shot Jim a look that could have meant anything from Hungry?  to Are you fucking kidding me right now? Jim interpreted the Vulcan’s cryptic stare as Is he all right? before Leonard lifted his head suddenly.

“But he’s 8 years older than she is!”

A disbelieving burst of laughter escaped Jim’s mouth before he could stop it.  “Seriously, Bones? She’s going to college in a few months and will be surrounded by all sorts of dumbasses; Chekov is the best guy she could ever choose. The age difference is really obsolete at this point.  Besides, she’s almost 18.”

“Almost,” Leonard growled, “doesn’t count.  Seriously, is this entire ship tryin’ to turn my daughter into jailbait?!” He glared from Jim to Spock.  “Why are you being so quiet?”

“Hey, he’s just a little intimidated by your crazy eyes,” Jim winked at Spock conspiratorially. “Bones, I can promise you that no one on this ship hates you enough to want your kid to be jailbait.  I promise.”

Spock chose that very moment to give his input, “I must concur, Doctor. You are behaving most irrationally. It is--”

“If you tell me it’s illogical, I’ll have you eating your ears,” Leonard growled, sending Jim into a fit of giggles that earned him a raised eyebrow from both stoic men.

Once Jim stopped gasping for breath, he shot Leonard a blinding smile.  “Bones, we’re trying to get you to pull your head out of your inebriated ass long enough to realize that no one is trying to make a fool of you through Jo, especially not Chekov.” Jim rose and grabbed a spare blanket from his bedroom.  “Honestly, I think the kid’s more than a little afraid of you. “  Handing Leonard the blanket, Jim smirked.  “I don’t think he’d go and fall in love with your kid just for shits and giggles.”

“Eh, you’re probably right,” Leonard conceded.  He finished processing all of Jim’s words and looked up, confused.  “What do you mean ‘fall in love?’”

Jim rolled his eyes and beckoned Spock to join him at the door.  “Sleep it off, Bones.  We’ll check on Jo; it’ll be good for the two of you to have some time apart.”

The captain could see that Bones wanted to object.  Even though Jim Kirk hadn’t had his happy family moments growing up, he saw what he had wanted in Bones’ relationship with his daughter. The entire crew loved Jo, but she was Bone’s responsibility. Jim knew that Jo was only on the Enterprise for a limited amount of time, and Bones wanted every minute of that time with his kid.  Chekov was just the whiz-kid-sized kink in the plan.  It was plain that Bones was so torn up about the whole situation because he felt his time with Joanna was being stolen.  Jocelyn had taken all of Bones’ father opportunities in the divorce; he just wanted to make up for lost time.

Jim also knew that if Jo saw Bones like this, the doctor would never forgive himself. 

As the door slid shut, Jim couldn’t help but smile at the sight of the good doctor curled up on his couch.  While he had no way of knowing, Jim hoped that George Kirk had been as dedicated of a father as Leonard McCoy. 

 

 

It was nearing 23:00 hours when Jim hailed the McCoy quarters.  Spock had abandoned him on the way over, excusing himself in favor of meditation and then sleep.  Jim had learned long ago to not rib the Vulcan about his relationship with Uhura, but the fourteen-year-old boy part of Jim’s brain couldn’t help but supply as many snarky comments as possible while the two men bade each other goodnight. Glancing at his chronometer, Jim realized that he had been awake for far too long.  His eyes longed to shut for eight hours of gloriously uninterrupted sleep.

Luckily, Jo wasn’t one to keep others waiting.  The door slid open and Jim’s eyebrows went up in surprise at Jo’s jeans and t-shirt; clearly, he wasn’t the only one not getting any sleep.

“Oh,” Jo said, clearly disappointed.  “I thought you were—”

“A certain navigator with a Joanna banana sweet tooth?” Jim interrupted, flashing Jo a saucy grin.  “Why Jo, isn’t it past your bedtime?”

The look she gave him was all McCoy.  “I thought you were my father, although I guess he would have just let himself in.”

“Ah.” Jim smiled crookedly and shook his head. “No, I’m not the illustrious doctor, but I do know where he is.”

“Yeah?” Jo asked, and Jim knew in that moment that Bones and his kid would be fine. 

“He’s…recovering from your little spat earlier in my quarters.  He’ll be back in the morning, sore from an uncomfortable couch and wanting to patch things up with you as best as possible.” Jim smiled sunnily. “How’s about we let that happen?”

Jo shrugged.  “Just as long as he doesn’t compare me to my mother anymore, I’m game.”

Sighing, the captain leaned against the doorframe, surveying Jo with crystalline eyes.  “You know, he only says mean things because he’s concerned.  Trust me; I’ve dealt with it since the very first day I met him and he—”

“Threatened to throw up on you,” Jo finished neatly.  “I know.”

Jim’s smile lost some of its jocularity.  “He really loves having you around, Jojo.  Not being with you after the divorce just about killed him.” When Jo didn’t say anything, Jim decided to press further. “He just wants to spend as much time with you before you go off on the big adventure that is college and leave him all alone, rattling around in this big ship with hundreds of bodies to hypospray daily.”

Jo giggled, but sobered quickly.  “The thing is…” she took a deep breath, as though carefully choosing what she was about to say, “the thing is, I’m not really going anywhere.   I mean, yeah, I’m going off to school, but Stanford is close enough to San Francisco that I can see him whenever the Enterprise docks.” She raised those dark coffee eyes and Jim’s heart broke.  “He thinks he’s going to lose me, like he lost me to Momma in the divorce.  What he fails to realize is that I was just as miserable in that damn divorce as he was. But I’m not going anywhere,” she echoed, and Jim realized that Jo’s physical presence was no longer being discussed.  “He’s still my daddy.  That ain’t changin’.  No sir,” she said softly.

He couldn’t help it; Jim reached out and tugged Jo into a rough hug, burying his face into her dark hair.  “He’s lucky to have you around, Joanna,” Jim muttered gruffly.  “We all are.”  Before he did something embarrassing, like start bawling on her shoulder, Jim gently pushed Jo away and flashed her a winning smile.  “Like I said, it’s just about past your bedtime. Gotta be up bright and early to welcome dear old dad back to the homestead.”

Jo ducked her head, hiding her reluctant smile.  “I know he drinks,” she said softly.  “My mother could drive a nun to prostitution and a priest to murder; he has good reason. Doesn’t mean I love him any less.”  She looked up and looked so fiercely like Bones that Jim almost ducked a nonexistent hypospray.  “But so help me God, if he makes this a habit while I’m on this vessel, I will clean the med bay with him, and you can tell him so.”  Her brow furrowed in ferocious determination before clearing into a beatific smile.  “Goodnight, Jim,” Jo said sweetly, “and thanks for passing on the news.”

“No problem, sweetheart.”  Jim waited until the door had sealed itself shut behind Joanna before beginning the walk back to his quarters.

Yeah.  They were going to be just fine.

 

 

_March 21, 2267_

_07:00 hours_

 

The first thing he did in the morning was peek into Jo’s room to see if she was awake.  At 7:00 in the morning, he highly doubted it, but with Joanna, one could never be certain. 

He wasn’t disappointed.  All that was visible of his daughter was a dark mop of hair; the rest of her was nestled snugly under blankets and pillows.  Ever since she was a baby, Jo liked to have something at her back when she slept.  Partly a security thing, partly a comfort thing, it was reassuring to know that some things never changed.

Running a tongue over his teeth, he winced; he felt like a particularly elderly cat had crawled into his mouth, curled up and died overnight. It wasn’t the most graceful way he had ever woken up, but it certainly wasn’t the worst.

Looking back at his baby – or what was visible of her – he felt something twist in his stomach.  The divorce had been hard on him, but especially tough on his baby girl.  Jocelyn, psycho bitch that she was had gotten it all while he and Jo got next to nothing.  He wasn’t about to lose Joanna again.

“Love you, baby girl,” he said softly to the dark room, listening to the steady sounds of Jo’s breathing. As he turned away towards his own room, an unfamiliar sight above the couch made him stop and stare.

Leonard didn’t consider himself a crying man, but hot tears spilled over his eyes as he read the words his daughter had written the night before:

_LOVE YOU, TOO, DADDY._


End file.
